Falling in Love in Avatar Land
by Zorua Illusion
Summary: A girl and her best guy friend end up in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. While with the Gaang, they fall in love. Will they be able to admit their feelings during a century-long war? Read to find out! Rated "T" for language.
1. The Ferris Wheel and the Headache

Falling in Love in Avatar Land

A girl and her best guy friend end up in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. While with the Gaang, they fall in love. Will they be able to admit their feelings during a century-long war? Read to find out!

The Ferris Wheel and the Headache

"Come on Adam! We have all day passes, let's use them!" Zarla shouted, running ahead. I smiled. It was nice to see her smiling and laughing again after what happened to her.

Hi. My name is Adam. I'm a sophomore in high school. My best friend is Zarla, and she's also my crush. A few months ago, she went into what other people called depression. I knew that she just cut herself off from the world. Currently I'm trying to get all her former courage and self-confidence back. She's only recently been smiling and laughing again. She's coming out of her shell she made. I take her places to keep her smiling and having fun. Today I took her to an amusement park (it was Spring Break). I bought all day passes and a lot of money- half of it from my parents, a quarter of it from me, and the last a gift from Zarla's parents as a thank-you.

Anyways, I laughed and chased after her. We rode roller coasters, played skill games, ate lunch, rode some more rides, but it was a the Ferris Wheel that everything went wrong. We were at the top when it stopped, which is normal, but what wasn't normal is that they came over the P.A. and said "Folks, there appear to be slight technical difficulties. Is anyone using wireless Internet connection?" When a correspondence of "no's" "nope's" "Nada's" and other negatories, they said "Please hang on folks, we're going to try to get you all down." I looked beside me and saw Zarla wince.

"Headache?" I asked. See, Zarla has this special ability. Whenever something major is about to happen to herself or anyone she's close to, she'll get a headache. If it's a large one, it'll be huge. If it's a small one, it's large enough to foretell, but it doesn't change much. (Strange…. She never got a headache that day….).

"Yeah…it's large, but it's also…comforting, like whatever's going to happen won't be too terribly bad." She sounded confused, but before I could ask anything, there was a bright, almost blinding flash of white. The last thing I saw was Zarla's face. Then everything went black.

**A/N: And that's chapter one of "Falling in Love in Avatar Land". It's somewhat- well, completely cliché, but oh well. It only matters that I like it, right? Hit the review button and drop me a line or two. Kind words, advice, flames- whatever. Just please don't use a cuss every other word. They lose their effect if you use them like that.**


	2. Getting Stuck in Avatar Land

Getting Stuck in Avatar Land

Adam's POV

When I woke up, it was night time outside. I looked to my left and saw Zarla next to me. I noticed my clothes felt different, so I looked at them. They weren't the clothes I put on that morning. Instead of my light blue polo, dark wash jeans, and blue Nikes, I had on what was similar to what one of Zarla's favorite cartoon characters wore during one episode. I looked over and saw Zarla wearing the same thing. Then, her eyes fluttered and her blue eyes showed.

"Hey Adam," she started.

"Yeah?"

"Where are we?"

"I don't know. But I have a hunch. Look at your outfit."

She looked down. Her eyes widened. "Okay…..I think I'm having the same hunch as you."

"That we're somehow stuck in your favorite cartoon?"

"Yes. We're stuck in Avatar: The Last Airbender. And bad news- we're in the _Fire Nation._"

I was confused, but she didn't look at me. Instead, she looked at her shoulder. "Hey cool a bag!" She started rummaging around in it. I looked at my shoulder and found one of similar design on my own. I started rummaging around in mine as well. Mine had books and such, a bedroll, some food, paintbrushes, and ink. It also had my drumsticks and my "trademark" bracelet- a woven strand of the colors green, purple, black, and white that Zarla gave me. She didn't know, but I actually wore it every day. It was just hidden. It also had a small dagger, but I didn't know why, so I just left it in the bag. I looked over and saw Zarla had much the same things in her bag, but instead of drumsticks, she had her small bag of guitar picks and instead of a woven strand of thread, she had her "trademark" fedora. It was solid black, broken only by a green, purple, and white band. We also had a pair of our own clothes. Hers was a t-shirt that said "I (1-Up Mushroom picture) Life" with khaki shorts. Mine was a black shirt that said "Do you want to know how to keep an idiot busy? Look on the back/front." on both sides in red with denim knee-length shorts. We both had similar boots- they came up to our knees, but the fabric was flexible, allowing them to be easily stored in our packs. We put everything back in the bags (I shoved my bracelet in my pocket) and we walked on. Zarla kept looking for something, but I didn't know what.

"Okay, what's the Fire Nation and what's so bad about it? Keep in mind; I watched a total of what? One episode with you?" I reminded her.

"Oh. Right. Anyways, the Fire Nation is the bad guy. Well, namely the Fire Lord and his followers. I'm going to repeat the beginning, because I doubt you remember it."

"Fire away!"

"Alright. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar- master of all four elements- could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and-here's where I change it a bit- a girl and her brother discovered the new Avatar- an airbender named Aang. Although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But Katara believes Aang can save the world. That's the show's version. I'm going to tell you mine.

Long ago, the four nations- The Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, Water Tribes, and Air Nomads- lived together in somewhat of a harmony. But everything was thrown out of balance the day the Fire Nation attacked the Air Nomads during Sozin's Comet. Only the Avatar- who trained until s/he mastered all four elements- could stop them, but days before, he had vanished beneath the waves. A hundred years passed and a girl from the Southern Water Tribe, Katara, and her brother, Sokka, found and unfroze the lost Avatar- an airbender named Aang. And although he's already mastered airbending, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to take down the Fire Lord. But everyone believes Aang can save the world. And most believe he'll get Katara's heart in the end."

"So Aang's an airbender…. What can they do again?"

"There are four bending types- water, earth, fire, air. Airbenders- well, gravity's a joke to them really. They can fly with gliders, run extremely fast, create tornados, freeze items with cold winds, and soften falls with airbending. Aang is the last airbender. The rest were killed in Sozin's homicide. The original airbenders were the sky bison- of which, Appa is the last known one- and airbending was based off of Ba Gua Zhang. They mainly focus on circular motions based off of eight animals- Lion, Snake, Bear, Dragon, Phoenix, Rooster, Monkey, and the mythical Qilin. No air means no bending, so they aren't powerless unless you shove them into outer space.

Katara is a waterbender. Waterbenders can make water take on fantastic shapes. They can also freeze it and turn it into mist or steam. They can control anything water-based, such as ink and sweat and can pull water out of plants and the air. There is also a forbidden art- one discovered by Hama, also known as the Puppet Master. She discovered blood bending in which you can take over someone's body and force them to do your bidding. This can only be done on the full moon. Waterbending itself was based off of tai chi, and the original waterbender was the moon. Now, the moon spirit's name is probably Yue. I'll explain more about that later. Tai chi focuses on using little energy and focusing their own energy outward. It is very flowing and gentle, but devastating when mastered. Katara was taught by Master Pakku, who taught Aang a little bit. Katara is now Aang's waterbending master, but he's already mastered waterbending, so they don't really practice it anymore. Oh- and waterbending relies on the moon. No moon spirit equals no bending. Their bending is strongest on the full moon.

Toph is an earthbender. Earthbenders move earth, crush it, dig through it, can magnetize their limbs to it, and can soften the ground to ease falls. Most earthbending is based off of Hung Gar, but Toph's is Southern Praying Mantis because of her slight handicap. The original earthbenders were the badgermoles, and the first ones to learn from the badger moles were Oma and Shu, who have a city named after them. Toph is the only metal bender since she can sense the fine particles of earth in metal.

The final bending art is firebending. Firebenders control flames. They can make fire balls, fire daggers, fire walls, and other things of that nature. It is based off of Northern Shaolin, which focuses on extending the body and long, aggressive techniques that explode and drive through the opponent. Many of Shaolin`s movements come from nature, utilizing the behaviors of various animals and the five Chinese elements- wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. The original Firebenders were the dragons, but now they are extinct. General Iroh of the fire Nation killed the last one.

There are also non-benders, or people who can't bend. We're both non-benders. But most non-benders can fight."

"Dang Zarla! How can you remember all this?"

"I read and reread the same facts a lot. I also watched every episode at least three times. Hey- a cave! Let's use this one."

Ah…. I see what she was looking for now. Anyways, we went into the cave.

"I'm tired from all that walking. I'm going to take a nap." And with that, Zarla lay down and did just that. I followed suit. In about five minutes, the cave was filled with the sounds of two people sleeping. Little did we know we were to have unexpected visitors later.

**A/N: And that's chapter two of "Falling in Love in Avatar Land". FiLiAL starts before "The Headband", but after 'The Awakening". I have no idea if I'll change the time of the Kataang ship. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Drop me a line or two, review, kind words, praise, advice, flames, it doesn't matter to me. It only matters if I like my story, and that's that!**


	3. The Gaang and Zarla's Story

The Gaang and Zarla's Story

Adam's POV

We woke up to a shouting match early in the morning.

"I think we should avoid this cave! The people in there might be expecting us!" a masculine voice shouted.

"I say we should go in and trap them! I told you, I can feel them sleeping! We can catch them unaware!" a girl's voice shouted. I wasn't sure if I should be creeped out by someone being able to feel me sleeping or not.

"Look, guys, if they're in a cave, they might be like us- on the run from the Fire Nation. I say we walk in and see if they're friendly. If not, we can take them." This voice was also masculine, but it sounded slightly strained, as if he were tired or trying to hide his stress. I looked over to Zarla, who was looking down at her writings on the ground and crossing out different lines.

"Did you hear?" I asked.

"No, they were too quiet. Yes I heard that shouting match. I wrote this down to see what episode we might be stuck in- those voices were Sokka, Toph, and Aang."

"Wait- so all of those are episode names?"

"Yeah, but it's just the third season, not including the first episode. I think we're stuck in 'The Headband', in which Aang goes to a Fire Nation school. It also happens to be the only one you watched with me."

"Well, at least I know what's going on."

"Yes, that's all well and good."

Then we heard footsteps. (There had been arguing in the background of our conversation, but it had apparently stopped.) Then four people filed out in front of us. One of the boys spoke up first.

"Hi, I'm Kuzon." He had black hair, grey eyes, and pale skin. He was wearing the same outfit as us. Only, his belt was on his forehead and the logo was upside down. He bowed to us.

"I'm Sokka." (Sokka) He also bowed.

"And I'm Katara." A girl who looked similar to Sokka said this. They were most likely siblings. Another bow.

"And I'm Taibrea." The girl was pale and her hair was pulled into a bun. Her eyes were half-hidden by her bangs, but you could see they were milky white. She was blind. She did not bow.

"Hi, I'm Zarla." Zarla quickly stood up in an acrobatic way, bowed, and sat back down.

"Hi, I'm Adam," I said. I stuck out my hand for them to shake, but they just looked at it. Zarla quickly spoke to me in Spanish.

"Un apretón de manos significa que son amigos. En este caso, es necesario hacer una reverencia."

"Ah, gracias." And then I took back my hand and bowed. They all looked at us like we were insane. Zarla smacked her forehead.

"I forgot they don't have foreign languages here."

I looked at her and said "¿En serio? Tu ha visto todos los episodios, se ha hecho cada pieza de mercancía que tienen, y se le olvida que sólo tiene un idioma

She stared at me very seriously. "No tengo ninguna mercancía de los suyos, pero sí."

She looked back. "Yo no tengo ninguna de sus mercancías, pero sí."

I facepalmed. "Really? Just really?"

"Yes, really. Now get off my back about it."

"Fine, fine." I looked over and saw every one looking at us as if we were insane. Again.

"Banter between friends," Zarla explained, almost bored. They all looked at each other, shrugged, and turned back to us.

"So… are you guys on the run from the Fire Nation?" Kuzon asked. He received a flick in the forehead from Sokka.

"Will you guys feel bad if we told you we were lying about who we are?" Again Kuzon was the one that spoke.

"No. We'll be able to understand why," this time I spoke.

Everyone in their group let out a sigh of relief. Then Kuzon took off his headband, showing us an arrow tattoo.

"My real name is Aang, nice to meet you!" He smiled. It wasn't a tiny grin, nope, this one spread almost literally ear to ear. "This is Katara, my waterbending teacher." Katara nodded at this.

"Sokka, her brother." He glared at us suspiciously. I glanced at Zarla, who shrugged as if to say "He does this to everyone."

"And-"

"I can introduce myself, Twinkle Toes. I'm Toph Bei-Fong, the greatest earthbender in the world, and Aang's earthbending master."

"Modest much?" I asked.

"Ese u Adam," Zarla hissed back, "she can hear you."

"You bet your britches I can!" Toph exclaimed.

"I'm not- oh never mind. You wouldn't care," Zarla stated.

"So…. Where are you guys from?" Aang asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had accumulated in the cave.

Zarla and I looked at each other. Zarla spoke up again. "Somewhere far, FAR away."

They turned to Toph, who nodded. Zarla raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged my shoulders to say "What?" she rolled her eyes and laid back. I laughed a little and copied her. Everyone, including Zarla, looked confused. I just mouthed "Later," and they shrugged and turned away.

"So how did you get here?" Sokka asked, still a little suspiciously.

"We have no idea," Zarla and I responded at the same time. They all looked at us oddly. We just shrugged and shook our heads. They accepted the answer, but I knew it would come up again.

We all left to go to the marketplace. After all, I and Zarla had enough for two people, not six. Plus the "Gaang" as Zarla said needed food. As soon as I, Zarla, and Aang were separated from the group, a burly guard walked up and told us "It's over, we caught you."

We all asked "Who? Us?" in unison.

"It couldn't be more obvious that you don't belong here. _(We all cringe, expecting the worst.)_ Next time you play hooky, you might want to take off your school uniform."

"Heheh," we all laughed nervously before being dragged away to the Fire Nation School.

_Later…._

"Are these new minds ready to be molded?" Mrs. Kwan asked.

"If you mean rotted, no, learning, yes," Zarla stated. By the look the teacher gave her, she wasn't scoring any brownie points. Zarla stared right back, the bowed in a formal fashion. I copied her, as well as Aang. Mrs. Kwan frowned.

"And we don't wear head coverings indoors."

"Um, I have a scar. It's _really_ embarrassing," Aang explained.

"Very well. What is your name? Or should we just call you, 'Manner less Colony Slob'?"

"Just 'Slob' is fine," Aang chuckled. He stopped when no one else laughed. "Or... uh... Kuzon."

"Zarla."

"Aiguo," I said. Zarla suggested I change my name since Adam was uncommon and most likely unknown because it was a Christian name. So I went with Aiguo. We all went to the empty seats and began our first day of school.

_Even later…_

"Okay, I know I've had some pretty terrible days at school, but this one was downright CRAP," Zarla said after school was out. We were waiting for Aang/Kuzon in the courtyard.

"Zarla!" I exclaimed softly.

"Well, it was!" she defended herself. I couldn't be mad at her. After all, every time I saw her, she had a frown on her face with a look that said "I don't agree with this."

"Fine, but don't start using serious cusses in public."

"At least not in a language they can understand," she smirked back.

"Alright, fine, but we need to find Kuzon."

"Already done, he's next to On Ji… and here comes Hide. And there they go… Shoji asks him to play Hide and Explode… and here they come."

"Hey Zarla, Aiguo. Want to play Hide and Explode with us?" Aang asked us. We looked at each other.

"Sure," we replied in unison. And off we went.

EVEN LATER STILL!

"Where have you been? We've been worried sick!" Katara exclaimed when we returned, covered in burn marks. Zarla whispered in my ear "I swear she sounds just like Mrs. Weasly."

"We got invited to play with some friends of mine after school," Aang said.

"This was cruddy as heck! The school, not the games with Shoji and the others," Zarla added.

"After what!" Sokka yelled at us.

"We got enrolled into a Fire Nation school, and I, at least, am going back tomorrow," Aang said.

"Count me in," Zarla tacked on.

"I might as well go back, too. Who else is going to keep you two out of trouble?" I said.

"Enrolled in what!" Sokka shouted again.

"Not really 'enrolled', more like 'forced' because our outfits are really school uniforms," Zarla told him, "and a Fire Nation school to answer your question because you seem to appear to have short term memory loss. If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go to sleep. Every single day I have a sucky school day, I need to sleep a long while more." So she did just that. She got up, walked to a far corner, faced away from the fire, brought out her sleeping mat and blanket, and fell asleep. All in the course of five minutes.

"Why does she have sudden mood swings like that?" Sokka asked. They all turned to me.

I sighed. "All right, fine, I'll tell you why. But this conversation will be kept a secret. Forever. Swear upon what's most important to you."

"I swear upon my mother's necklace," Katara said.

"I swear upon my bending," Toph told me.

"I swear upon my promises I made to dad."

Aang muttered something so quiet, only I could hear it. And Toph too. "I swear upon my love for Katara."

_Damn, Zarla should've been able to hear that. She loves them as a couple._ I nodded to them, accepting their swears. (She fan girl's out on me a lot, so I learned what she was talking about.)

"Well, Zarla and I are from an entirely different universe than you, but we know about you because in our world, you're fictional characters. Zarla asked me to watch one episode with her. I watched 'The Headband'- also known as what we're doing now." Ignoring their amazed faces, I pushed forward, not believing I could do this story more than once. "We're halfway through our final set of school years. About one year ago, Zarla got a boyfriend. Zarla had a crush on him, and he knew it. So he hid his colors as a world class gilipollas. He wasn't very interested in girls for how they acted or whatever, but instead for how good they would be in bed. Before I continued, does anyone have something I can squeeze?" I asked.

"Sure," Toph said, handing me a smooth rock.

"Thanks. Anyways, he asked Zarla out, and she agreed. They went out for half a year, during which he restrained himself. Then, on their six month anniversary, he tried to… force himself upon Zarla. Luckily, she had a cat that followed her everywhere. The cat came and got me while Zarla beat the living mierda out of him. She's been taking kung-fu for nine years now. I came in after Zarla was done. The guy had a broken arm and nose, and a sprained knee from where Zarla kicked him. Now, that gilipollas deserved everything he got," by this point, the rock Toph gave me was almost breaking under the pressure I was putting on it, "but he couldn't sue her, so he did what he thought was the next best thing. He spread nasty rumors about them 'hitting home base' as we put it and her breaking up with him because of some odd, bizarre reason I didn't pay attention to. She sued him, and he was put into Juvenile Court, which is a jail for minors, under the account of attempted rape and sexual assault. He was expelled from school. All his friends came up and tried to apologize to Zarla, but she simply said 'Are you the one that did that? No. You don't need to apologize. But you can do something for me. Never be like him. Ever.' They never did turn out to be like him. All of them are Zarla's friends now. They don't visit him in Juvy. I'm not even sure if his family does. Even through all the terrible things he did to her, she sank into what the doctor's called depression. It wasn't that, she just cut herself off from the world so she wouldn't hear the rumors. I was able to get her back again after a few weeks. Her cat, Frehor Noches, or 'Shadow's Night' when translated, helped out a lot too. Speaking of him, I wonder…" I was cut off by a meow. I turned around. There, in the entrance of the cave, was Frehor Noches.

"Here kitty," I called him. He came bounding up to me, jumped on me, and lay down in my lap.

"Well, that answers my question. This is Frehor Noches, 'Shadow's Night'. Anyways, even through all the terrible things he did to her, she forgave him. I believe she said 'Revenge is a double bladed sword. While you hurt your enemy, you're being hurt as well.' I told her that I thought forgiveness was the same as doing nothing. I swear to Shaymin, as she would say, she never looked as serious as she did in that moment. 'Doing nothing is easy. Forgiving, well, that's a challenge Arceus himself finds difficult.' About a month later, we went on a Ferris wheel when it stopped and Zarla got a headache. It happens when something major is about to happen to her or someone close. The more painful it is, the more major the event. She never got a headache that day though. Anyways, she said it hurt a lot, but it was somewhat comforting, as if it wouldn't be too terribly bad. The next thing I know, we end up here in the Fire Nation, wearing these uniforms. And now I have no more secrets. Any questions?" I let go of the rock.

Everyone muttered for a few moments. I caught phrases such as "penguin pusher", "bison dung", and "fire scum". Then someone spoke up.

"Yeah, what was his name?" Sokka asked.

My face darkened. "I swore to myself to never speak his name, ever. I also swore if I saw him again, I'd personally kick his ass."

"Where did she get the name Frehor Noches?" Aang asked.

"I asked her and she told me that Frehor means 'Shadow' and I knew 'noches' meant 'night'. She said it just seemed to fit this guy." I petted Frehor. He purred.

"What was that language you two were speaking earlier?" Katara asked.

"Spanish. In our world, we have many different countries, not four nations. Each country has its own language unless it was founded by another. We're required to take a foreign language. Zarla and I chose Spanish and we are the most proficient in it because we took a trip to Mexico once and had to learn the language. We're often asked to demonstrate a conversation to the class, and we'll often slip in and out of it while talking, as proven by the conversation. Also, gilipollas means 'asshole' and mierda means 'shit' in Spanish."

"Do you curse a lot?" Toph asked.

"Not usually, unless someone mentions him."

"Who are Shaymin and Arceus?" Sokka asked.

"Here, I'll show you." I took out the Pokémon handbook that I had found was in my bag and pulled it out.

"This is Shaymin" I told them, pointing to the legendary Gratitude Pokémon. I flipped a few pages. "This is Arceus, King of all Pokémon," pointing at the legendary Alpha Pokémon. "When she gets really serious, she'll say Darkrai," more pages were flipped and my finger was pointing at the Pitch Black Pokémon, "or Giratina," more pages were flipped and my finger was pointed at another Pokémon, Giratina, the Renegade Pokémon. I put the book back in my bag. "Any more questions?"

"Yeah, what's falling out of your pocket? And why do you have that?" Aang asked. I shoved my bracelet back in my pocket.

"A bracelet Zarla made for me. She asked me what my favorite colors were. These are it- purple, the color of mystics, green, the color of life, white, the color of purity, and black, the color of darkness. And I have this book because Zarla will often use Pokémon names so I bought this to know what she was talking about."

"Ah. Well Adam, we should probably hit the hay, since we have school tomorrow," Aang told me.

"Don't even get me started on how crappy that fact is," I told him as I was getting out my own mat and blanket. Aang just lie on Appa's foreleg and fell asleep. I followed suit on my own bedroll thinking, _Damn Zarla. These people barely know you, but they're already better friends than yours are. I just hope I'm living up to the examples they set._

**A/N: It took me awhile to come up with Zarla's story. At first, I was going to say her best friend died, but Adam's her best friend… so that wouldn't work out very well. SO I decided on crappy boyfriend. And yes, I like the Pokémon fandom and the Harry Potter fandom. I'm a MLIAer, so yeah. Review if you have time! And I'm sorry for the language, but it seemed appropriate. **


	4. Close Combat and the Secret Dance Party

Close Combat and the Secret Dance Party

(A/N: Quick note before the story begins- I'm going to add another class in here because I want to. It's combat class. On with the story now!)

"And I missed that? Darn it… but I still want to know how Frehor Noches got here," Zarla said. I told her that I told the Gaang we're not from here and that I told her story. She didn't mind, she figured I was going to tell them eventually. I told the Gaang that, so we really didn't have any more secrets. One of the Gaang would sometimes ask us a question or two about our world, but that was it. Zarla, Aang, and I were on the way to school when I and Zarla had this conversation. We made it and went to our homeroom.

LATER…

We were on the way to combat class- a class required to take. I hated it, but I hid my distain. I didn't want to blow our cover. Zarla was teaching me a bit of self-defense, so I could hold my own.

"Hey Aiguo, want to spar with me?" Kuzon asked.

"Sure," I replied. We stood about two feet apart from each other, Kuzon in his neutral stance, me in a stance everyone was snickering at. My hands were loose and about eye level. Aang smirked, thinking this was an easy win. Then I provoked him.

Zarla told me that provoking was just a loose attack they used to initiate a fight. It's usually very effective, since it's either block, dodge, or get hit in the face. If it's fast enough, you can only block it or let it hit you in the face. There are four or five types, but Zarla has only demonstrated three to me because she needed to ask her kung-fu instructor what the other two are.

Anyways, Kuzon was the Avatar (in disguise) so I was pretty much guaranteed to lose, but that won't stop me from trying. He blocked my provoke. I grabbed him then tried stepped on his leg. He moved it back and escaped my grip. He came at me this time around with a basic punch. I grabbed his arm then "dug" into a muscle on his arm and stepped on his leg, forcing him to go down. Then I let him back up. We sparred again and again, Kuzon winning most and me winning some. I started talking to him after our third round. Or, more accurately, he started talking to me

"Where'd you learn to fight Aiguo?" Kuzon asked.

"Zarla's teaching me," I replied. Kuzon knew the rest, so we continued to spar and only stopped at the end to drink some water and gather our books. Zarla was in a separate class because of her gender. I could see the hate of it on her face, but she simply said "Yes ma'am," and left. We left when the teacher said we had to go. Zarla caught up with us, a piece of embroidery in her hand. And some spare cloths wrapped around her fingers.

"I stabbed myself with the needle," she explained, "but I did an okay job I think."

It was stunning. In miniature, sewn form was the Firelord. Everything was right, right down to the eyebrows. (I knew this because we had to do a noodle doodle in an art class… mine was thrown away at my request because I made the Firelord look like a hippo.)

"How'd you do that?" Kuzon asked.

"May I?" I asked Zarla.

"Yeah sure, go ahead."

I spoke with Kuzon. "Zarla can do amazing things with a reference. She drew you guys once, and when I saw the episode, I was amazed to see they looked exactly like it. However, she can't do eyes very well. She says they always end up the wrong size, or one is higher than the other, or they just don't show the emotion right. So she just outlines the eyes and does everything else."

"You forgot one thing Adam. I hate doing hair. It's the most annoying thing to draw because of shadows. Ugh…. At least Firelord Ozai's hair is completely straight. That, I'm thankful for," Zarla tacked on.

"What can't you do Zarla?" Kuzon asked.

Zarla laughed. "A great many things. I can't do acrobatics, I can't think straight when I'm tired or angry, I yell a lot, I can't talk quietly, and I can't do things in front of a large crowd. I can barely sew, this is just copied, and I can't knit. I also can't keep my mouth shut when I disagree with something. I can't do a whole other amount of things, but those would just confuse you."

"What can't you do Aiguo?"

"Acrobatics off the top of my head. I don't dance," I told him.

"I say you can," Zarla told me.

"Not a chance." I finished. We laughed, leaving Kuzon confused.

"Anyways, I can't cook very well, and I find trying to stay awake in classes difficult. And I can't remember things very well. I can't sew or knit or quilt, and I can't have any- err, Zarla, what's the equivalent of caffeine in this place?"

"Chi-enhancing tea."

"Ah, thank you. And I can't have anything similar to chi-enhancing tea after seven or I won't be able to sleep."

We all laughed and walked into music class, where Kuzon got yelled at for dancing.

Zarla and I hated this school by now, but we kept going. Years of school have built up a resistance to us, but I was still shocked to find a tight circle in the school yard after school with students chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Zarla and I looked at each other before pushing our way through the crowd, a lot harder than you'd think it was. We found Kuzon dodging what's-his-name's fists and accidently tripping him. Then the Headmaster decided to show up.

"Crap…" Zarla muttered.

"Picking fights on your second day? We need to have a conference to discuss your punishment. Bring your parents to my office after school," the Headmaster told Kuzon.  
><strong>"<strong>Parents? But..." Kuzon started.  
>"Don't be late." The Headmaster walked away swiftly, followed by a smirking what's-his-name.<p>

Zarla and I walked up to Kuzon.

"Both of them are complete and total jerks. I swear, not even our assistant principals are _that_ bad!" Zarla was telling Kuzon.

She was right. Our assistant principals were stuck-up snobbish jerks, but the Headmaster and Hide just brought it up to a whole new level of jerk.

"That's okay, I have an idea," Kuzon said, grey eyes gleaming with mischievousness.

Zarla looked like she always does, but I was confused.

"Wait- what?" I asked.

Zarla smirked. "You'll find out soon enough."

LATER…..

"You have got to be kidding me."

Katara and Sokka were dressed up like parents, Katara a pregnant mother, and Sokka, the over-enthusiastic father.

"No, no we're not," Zarla told me, "this was Aang's idea, and since the Headmaster has never seen his parents, it might just work."

"Whoa, wait- might!"

"Sorry, _will_ work. The Headmaster won't know a thing."

"...Okay." I wasn't convinced, but I trusted Zarla on these matters. Aang, Katara, and Sokka left, leaving Zarla and I with the blind earthbender. We started talking about random things. Toph was curious about Pokémon, so Zarla told her the story of how Mew created all the Pokémon, Arceus was declared King, how Dialga and Palkia were created under his rule, how Regigius moved the continents, and other stories of the legendaries and how the Pokémon world came to be. That took up most of the time it took for Aang, Katara, and Sokka to get back, but Toph still had one question.

"Okay, you say the Pokémon are different types, and each one has weaknesses and strengths. What are they?"

"There are 17 types of Pokémon- Dark, Fighting, Psychic, Water, Fire, Grass, Rock, Ground, Electric, Flying, Steel, Ice, Dragon, Bug, Normal, Poison, and Ghost. Pokémon are either one type or two types, depending on the Pokémon. I'll explain the single type's weaknesses first, since that's the easiest.

Dark is weak to Fighting, but strong against Psychic. Psychic moves don't affect them.

Fighting is weak to Psychic, but strong against Dark.

Psychic is weak to Dark, but strong against Fighting.

This is one of the two type triangles I know of. The second one is the Grass/Water/Fire triangle, but I'll explain that later."

Toph nodded, because just then, Aang, Katara, and Sokka came into the cave.

"That settles it. No more school for you young man!" Sokka exclaimed, stroking his beard imperiously.

**"**I'm not ready to leave. I'm having fun for once, just being a normal kid. You don't know what it's like, Sokka. You get to be normal all the time," Aang countered.

**"**Ha, ha," Toph said mockingly.

Sokka scowled.

**"**Listen," Aang continued, "guys, those kids at school are the future of the Fire Nation. If we wanna change this place for the better, we need to show them a little taste of freedom."

"What could you possibly do for a country of depraved little fire monsters?" Sokka asked.

**"**I'm gonna throw them..._" _here, he does a quick tap dance flourish"...a secret dance party!"

Everyone was stunned except Zarla. Sokka was the first to recover.

**"**Go to your room!" he shouted, pointing.

"We're in a _cave_ Sokka, he doesn't really have a room," Zarla pointed out.

"Whose side are you on!" Sokka demanded.

"In this War? Yours. In verbal trickery? My own."

Sokka settled down, defeated.

"Alright, if we're having a dance party, might as well set up."

EVEN LATER…

"I can't believe we're having a dance party. It seems so... silly," Sokka said while arranging candles.

**"**Don't think of it as a dance party, but as a cultural event celebrating the art of fancy footwork," Aang replied. He demonstrated his fancy footwork while Katara bended beverage into an earthbended punchbowl.

**"**They're coming! Everyone stop bending!" Toph finished what she was doing, as well as everyone else and stopped bending.

**"**Sorry, buddy," Aang told Appa, "You should probably wait out back." Appa grumbled and shuffled into a tunnel at the back of the cave. "I know, you've got fancier feet than anybody...and six of 'em!" Then the band took up their positions. Aang leaped in front of them exultantly and, facing them, spreads his arms wide. Zarla and I stood off to the side since we don't dance…often.

**"**Ladies and gentlemen, The Flamey-os! Yeah, this ought to get everybody moving."

He turns around. It hasn't. The Fire Nation kids are standing, huddled together, uncertain.

"Now what do we do?" a kid I recognized as Shoji asked.

"This is when you start dancing," Aang replied.

A kid I don't know started speaking as his head disappeared into his collar,"I don't think my parents want me dancing in a cave."

**"**Yeah, what if someone finds out?" Another kid spoke up before looking around and scuttling away.

"Oh, boy. Listen, guys...dancing isn't something you think about. It's a form of self-expression that no one can ever take away from you," Aang explained.

**"**Maybe it was different in the colonies, Kuzon. But we don't do that here," Shoji spoke up again.

"Sure you do. You have for generations. It just so happens that I know several classic Fire Nation dances. A hundred years ago, this was known as 'the Phoenix Flight'."

He ran in a circle, squatting and kicking his legs in the fashion of Russian folk dance, his arms stretched straight out behind him in imitation of wings. The students oohed and aahed.

"And this was the 'Camelephant Strut'."

He hopped on one foot, alternating feet with each hop, passing his palms in front of his face as he does so. He turns a somersault through the air and lands in front of two girls, who giggle, embarrassed. He somersaults backwards and lands expertly on one foot, bowing. The students are amazed. I overheard Toph and Katara, who were sitting to the side, drinking beverages.

**"**Who knew Twinkletoes could dance?" Toph asked.

Katara only smiled. 

Aang, who was somersaulting through the air, landed in front of On Ji, who is looking away bashfully. A friend nudges her and she looks up at Aang, who extends his hand to her. She blushed as he lead her out to the dance floor.

**"**And this is how they do it in the ballrooms of Ba Sing Se."

He passed his arms in an undulating motion across his chest, stepping from side to side as he did so. On Ji imitated him. I overheard Sokka and Katara on the other side of the cave.

**"**Wow, they look pretty good together," Sokka commented.  
>Katara was looking away, but dismissively said<strong> "<strong>Eh, if that's what you like," before stealing a jealous glance at the couple. I looked back to where Aang and On Ji were.

More of the kids had joined Aang and On Ji. The crowd was loosening up.

**"**Yeah, that's it. That's the sound of happy feet. All right, go with that. Everybody freestyle!" Aang shouted. A Fire Nation boy started doing an elaborate "freestyle" dance, reminiscent of juba dancing. The remaining crowd was slowly beginning to get their groove on. I looked at Katara, sitting alone at a table with her head in her hand. She looked up when Aang stopped in front of her. Aang had walked over and was now standing in front of her, his hand outstretched.

**"**I don't know, Aang. These shoes aren't really right for dancing, and I'm not sure  
>that I know how to..."<br>Aang wasn't buying it."Take my hand."

"Okay."

He led her out to the center of the floor and whispers in her ear. They stretched out their arms and touched their wrists, circling around the axis they formed.  
>Even from this distance, I could hear Katara mutter <strong>"<strong>Aang, everyone's watching."  
>To which Aang replied"Don't worry about them. It's just you and me right now."<p>

She looked into his eyes, blushing first, and then becoming confident. They begin an elaborate dance that seems to be based off capoeira, cartwheeling through the air, crouching, and kicking over one another's heads. The crowd stopped dancing and watches them, entranced.

The interior of the cave was in full swing, but it couldn't last.  
>Another random school kid spoke up<em>. <em>"This is incredible. It's like my inhibitions just disappeared." The Headmaster and his entourage entered the cave, and the dancing grinds to a halt. The boy's head shrank back into his collar."Okay. They're...back again."

Aang, oblivious, dances in front of everyone.

"He's the one we want," the Headmaster stated. Aang looked up, alarmed."The boy with the headband!"

He points and the truant officers made a beeline for Aang.

"Uh-oh." Aang dashed into the crowd, an officer followed close behind. The crowd parts in front of the officer to reveal a lone figure with his back turned to the camera, wearing a headband.

**"**Got ya!" he shouted. He grabbed the figure by the shoulder and turns him around. It was Shoji, who tied his belt around his head in imitation of Aang.

"Looking for me?" he asked, smiling. Zarla and I looked at each other and grinned.

**"**That's not the one! He's here somewhere. Don't let him leave the cave!" the Headmaster shouted.

The officers darted through the crowd, the Headmaster joining them. Headbands are multiplying everywhere. One by one the officers snag them, only to discover one wide-eyed innocent face after another.

"Yes?" On Ji asked.  
>"Hi there," another random kid said.<br>"How we doing?" some random kid asked.  
>"Looking for someone?" a random question.<p>

The officers backed into a small knot in the middle of the cave as the students encircle them. By now the entire student body has tied their belt around their heads, including Zarla and I.

"Who are you looking for?" a student asked.  
>"Do you need something?" Shoji inquired.<br>"Over here," the students said.

The gaang plus Zarla and I were escaping down the tunnel Appa disappeared into earlier. Aang, last out, stops and turns back for a moment. Shoji, at the edge of the crowd, turns and winks at him. Aang bows, Fire Nation style, and runs down the tunnel. Toph stomped, and two walls of rock slam across the tunnel's entrance, sealing it off. We ran and jumped onto Appa's saddle. With a quick command of "Yip yip!" we were up in the nighttime sky, safe for now.

**"**We're safe, Sokka. You can take off the moustache, now," Katara told her brother.  
><strong>"<strong>Oh, no, I can't. It's permanently glued to my skin," Sokka said smugly.

He stroked it, unaccountably pleased with himself. Toph changed the subject.  
><strong><br>**"Way to go, Dancypants. I think you really did help those kids. You taught them to be free."  
>"I don't know. It was just a dance party, that's all."<br>"Well, that was some dance party, Aang," Katara said. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed. Zarla put a hand over her mouth to muffle something that sounded like saying "aw.." while laughing. Sokka, sitting crosslegged near the pommel, begins clapping his hands lazily and saying,_ "_Flamey-o, sir. Flame-ee-o."

**A/N: And that's chapter four of FiLiAL. Thank you to waitingfortruelove to being the first person to add this to their alert list! Thanks!**

**Drop praise, flames, or advice by clicking the review button. Thanks!**


	5. The Little Town of Jang Hui

The Little Town of Jang Hui

Zarla's POV

We were sitting in Appa's saddle. It was three days since the dance party for the school. Adam and I sat around, playing hand games, mind games, and other things that didn't require technology, since our portable handheld game systems weren't in our bags. Frehor was doing the same thing as Momo- sitting around while people pet him. Adam once started tapping his drumsticks, but Toph found the vibrations annoying and asked him to stop. I managed to snag a pipa from the dance party, asking the musician if I could have it, but I haven't tried playing it yet. It seemed very similar to the guitar.

_Now would be a good time to start._ So I took it out from behind me and tried a few notes. They were slightly off from the guitar, but I tweaked it a little bit and it sounded almost the same. So I started playing Taylor Swift's "Love Story". I changed the lyrics a bit because the song didn't suit me, but it did for some other people.

Adam recognized the tune and started the drums part with his drumsticks. He had snagged a coin from Sokka to use as a cymbal. Toph was listening, not asking Adam to stop this time. I was faintly aware of Aang playing hide and seek in the river, faintly shouting "Momo! Oh Momo!" and then he jumped into Appa's saddle. Adam and I continued playing, not noticing Aang bending off mud… until it got on our instruments.

"HEY!" we shouted at the same time. Everyone turned towards us.

"Would you stop getting mud all over our instruments?" we asked at the same time. We looked at each other. "We really need to stop doing this. I know right? UGH!" we shouted at the exact same time. Then we laughed, leaving everyone else confused.

"We're available in stereo," I said. Aang blew the mud off of our instruments with an air blast, choosing to ignore our random outburst. I put the pipa away, done with it for now.

"Hey Adam, want to play Shame?" I asked.

"Sure," he replied. We got into position and chanted in unison while clapping our hand to the others.

"Shame, shame, shame,

I don't wanna go to Mexico no more, more, more,

There's a big fat policeman at the door,

He grabbed be by the collar, made me pay a dollar,

I don't wanna go to Mexico no more, more, more.

Shame!" At this, Adam tried to hit my forehead, put I got him first.

"Should've had a V8!" I laughed. He joined me. The Gaang just ignored it, probably thinking they should at least try to.

"Well, I'm not catching anything," Sokka said. He had a fishing pole in his hand.

"The river's polluted," I said, "You can tell by how it's brown instead of blue, and how you can't see the bottom."

"That explains it, since usually my fishing skills are off the hook! Get it? Like a fishing hook?" Sokka asked lamely. You could hear the crickets chirping.

"Too bad your skills aren't _on_ the hook," Toph smirked, receiving laughs from all of us except Sokka.

"Then it looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food," Katara stated after everyone stopped laughing. Sokka rolled out his schedule. "Assuming that'll fit into Sokka's master schedule," she added dryly.

"Hm…it's doable. But that means only two potty breaks today!"

"Hey, maybe we could get some food there!" Aang pointed out a town on the river.

"The little town of Jang Hui," I said, "Great…" No one heard me. Aang was already landing Appa in a secluded spot. When he landed, Aang covered Appa and Momo up with a turf blanket. Frehor stayed nearby at my command.

"There, now you look just like a hill with horns," Aang declared. I leaned towards Adam and whispered in his ear "I'm still wondering how no one notices Appa in this."

"Bye buddy!"

"Where is this village? I can't feel it," Toph stated.

"Jang Hui is made out of wood in the middle of the river," I replied.

"Sure is!" 'Dock' had appeared out of nowhere. Everyone jumped but me.

"My name's Dock. Mind if I ask who you are?"

"We're from the Earth Kingdom colonies," I fibbed.

"Wow… colonials! Hop on, I'll give you a ride into town," Dock exclaimed.

We hopped in his boat.

"Why do you guys live on the river?" Katara asked.

"Because we're a fishing town. At least that's how it was before the factory moved in." We looked to the right and saw the ominous-looking Fire Army munitions factory through a gap in the cliffs. "Army makes their metal there. Moved in a few years ago and started gunking up our river. Now our little village is struggling to survive."

We then arrived in town. We waved good-bye and Aang said "Thanks for the ride!"

As we walked around looking for the market, we saw the village life. We saw poverty and enforced idleness.

"Look at this place. It's so sad. We have to do something to help," Katara said. I nodded, agreeing with her.

"No, we can't waste our time here! We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These people are on their own!" Sokka exclaimed. 

"These people are starving, but you turn your back on them ! How can you be so cold and heartless?" I asked Sokka. 

"I'm not turning my back, I'm just being realistic! We can't go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into. We'll be helping them all by taking out the Fire Lord!" 

"Hey, loudmouth! Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about _taking out the Fire Lord_,_" _Toph said while smacking the back of his head.

"Come on, you guys, be reasonable about this. You know our mission has to come first," Sokka said a little bit quieter this time.

"I guess so," Katara said. I did not say anything, nor did I nod my head.

_Thank Darkrai Katara becomes the Painted Lady this episode,_ I thought to myself.

"Let's just get what we need and go," Aang said.

We arrived at the market stall, which looked to be staffed by Dock, only this time he was wearing a different hat.

"Hey Dock, you work here, too?" Sokka asked.

"I'm not Dock, I'm Xu. Dock's my brother," Xu said.

I whispered to Adam, "I think this guy has been drinking the river water…"

Adam shook with silent laughter. We talk during classes and we learned to do everything silently so we wouldn't get caught.

"We'll just take the fish. Mind telling your brother we need a ride back to shore?" Sokka asked.

Xu disappeared behind the counter and Dock came up.

"Hey colonials. My brother says you need a lift."

As we were walking back to the boat, a little boy ran up to me.

"Can you spare some food?" he asked me.

I gave him a fish and replied to him sadly "I wish I could help more."

He runs away and shows the fish to a sick woman- probably his mom.

"C'mon Zarla…let's get back to camp," Adam told me gently.

I nodded and followed silently, letting my thoughts wash over me.

_Go to the Reverse World, Ozai, and be tormented by Darkrai strength nightmares. I really hope I get to see your demise soon enough. And I hope Giratina uses Hyper Beam on you._

We arrived on the shore a few minutes later. Sokka instantly rolled out his schedule once we got back to camp. Frehor was nearby Appa still.

"Our detour into town today has completely thrown off our schedule. It's gonna take some serious finagling to get us back on track," he declared.

"Finagle away, O schedule master," Toph quipped sarcastically.

"Well, for starters, it looks like we'll need to wake up forty-three minutes earlier every day."

"Forty-_three_ minutes, " Katara said disbelievingly. 

"Look, we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Lord in time for the invasion and the eclipse – which, by the way, only lasts for eight minutes. And we just lost a whole day. So if we want to make up the time and stay on schedule, we have to wake up early!" Sokka exclaimed as if it were obvious.

"Well, _I'm_ not waking up early," Toph stated. 

"Or we could just cut out all of our eating breaks," Sokka pitched in casually. 

"What?" Aang asked. 

"No way," Katara said 

"Forget it," declared Toph. 

"Sokka, if we do that there won't be any héroes to salvar el mundo," I said.

"Heroes; save the world," Adam translated for me.

"I got it, how's this? From now on, we'll take food breaks and potty breaks at the _same time._" 

"Yeah, not gonna happen," we all said. 

"Hey, it might be gross, but it's efficient. Either way, we have to leave here first thing tomorrow morning."

"I don't care how efficient it is Sokka- you can't plan out life," I told him.

"Sure I can!" Sokka argued.

"And whenever you've planned something, has it actually worked?" I retorted.

"Yes!"

"Really? Name ONE."

"Northern Air Temple."

"Okay, I'll give you that one. I can name two plans that have failed- Leaving Aang for Bato and Diablo's Ciudad."

"What?" Everyone except Adam asked.

"Where is Devil's City?" Adam asked.

"The place you four-" I gestured to Toph, Aang, Katara, and Sokka, "know as the Ba Sing Se. Giratina, I hate that place."

Even Adam seemed surprised at my use of the word "hate".

"But you've never even been there!" Adam exclaimed.

"Adam. There's a brainwashing place, the king is about as good at doing his job as Galbatorix, the tour guides are brainwashed, and then there's a prison made out of glowing crystals, the final episode allowed Zutarians to win battles, people are _starving and broke,_ and there's DEATH in the prison! What is there to _like_ about Diablo's Ciudad?"

"Okay, I can't argue with that logic," Adam said.

"On the slightly bright side, Toph did learn a bit about metal and bending," I added as an afterthought.

"Sure did!" Toph laughed.

"Then again, it wasn't in Ba Sing Se. Impenetrable City my pocket. But Ba Sing Se did have the most funny moments," I muttered, more talking to myself than the people around me. Everyone just looked at each other, shrugged, and let it go.

"Alright guys, if we're leaving early tomorrow, we might as well go to sleep," Adam said. We all nodded and went to our bedrolls, but Aang went to Appa's tail. Soft breathing was soon heard. However, I wasn't asleep. I was waiting for something. Then I heard it- soft, very quiet, very slow footsteps. I got up, knowing who it was, and followed them to a nearby forest. There, I saw Katara picking a lot of berries and putting them in a makeshift bag of cloth.

"Remember to tell Appa he has to act sick as well," I whispered.

Katara jumped, almost dropping the berries.

"Oh… uh… hey Zarla…" she said nervously.

"Relax; I'm not going to tell anyone. I think it's great, but you'd better hurry if you don't want anyone to know."

"Thanks Zarla." Katara looked relieved.

"C'mon, I'll give the berries to Appa. You go help Jang Hui," I took the berry bag from her. She nodded and left while I crept to camp. I gently woke Appa and fed him the berries, telling him Katara's plan.

"I know I'm still an outsider Appa. But please, you need to act sick so Katara can help the village. Please Appa," I whispered. Appa groaned quietly and made it look as if he were sick.

"Thank you," I said sincerely. I went back to my bed roll, but I didn't fall asleep. I had a minor case of insomnia after….. Well, you know. Frehor Noches must have sensed my discomfort because he left his spot from nearby Appa and came to lie down next to me. I closed my eyes, relived to have something comforting nearby. I fell asleep a few minutes later.

**A/N: It took FOREVER to do this…. I'm not entirely sure how much I like this. Anyways, review please! Flames, advice, kind words, whatever!**


	6. Discoveries Whilst Fighting

Discoveries Whilst Fighting

Zarla's POV

"Zarla…. Zarla, c'mon, time to wake up," Adam said gently, shaking my shoulder. My brain was still half asleep, so I tried to hit him, thinking it was that jackass coming to get me again. Adam, however, was used to it, so he grabbed my fist before I could hit him. My brain was fully awake now.

"You're going to have to try harder if you want to hit me," Adam said.

"Oh I will, just wait." I grinned almost evilly. Adam's smug look faltered, knowing that I would get him eventually. It was something I had picked up from watching Avatar- wait and listen before attacking. "Anyways, what did I miss?"

"Just finding out Appa is sick…" Adam trailed off with an odd tone to his voice.

I knew what he was thinking, so I told him "Tell you later."

He gave me a doubtful look, but let it pass.

"We're going to get herbs for Appa," Sokka said.

"I'll stay here. All Jang Hui does is depress me," I spoke up.

"I'll stay here with her," Adam volunteered. The Gaang exchanged nervous glances, but then shrugged, waved goodbye, and set off.

"They still don't trust us…" Adam trailed off.

"They don't know our loyalties. We're just two random people that claim to be from another world who know about them. Honestly, they're brilliant to _not_ trust us. After all, most of their lives have been spent in war."

"I concede, but it still stings."

"You'll get over it. Besides, they trust us a little bit. Otherwise, they would've made us go with them."

"How the heck do you know this?"

"That's war Adam. It's always the same, whether you're in our world or another, it's always the same- death, death, and more death, but with chances for rebirth. They say that every rose has its thorns, they say. But it's also true that every rosebush starts out as a pile of thorns."

"I suppose you're right. But…"

"It would be nice to have their trust, but to not be suspicious could be fatal to them, with Aang's position and everything," I stated in a tone that said _this is how it is, we cannot change it._

"War," Adam cursed.

"War," I agreed. Then I hit him on the arm.

"Darn it Zarla," he told me. He didn't try to hit me back though. He wouldn't dare.

I just smiled at him.

The four others came back a few minutes later empty-handed.

"Let me guess- no medicine, it all goes to the factory?" I asked.

They nodded. "How'd you know?" Sokka asked.

"Sorry I couldn't tell you earlier, but it was in my show… but my memory seems to be… fuzzed, I suppose. It's like something… doesn't want me to remember. Which is great, I suppose- I believe I would try to change the future. It would never work," I stated.

"Are you quoting Percy Jackson again?" Adam asked.

I smirked. "Maybe."

"What's Percy Jackson?" Aang asked.

"A book series from our world," I explained.

(A/N: Yes, I put it in there. I. in no way, shape or form, own PJatO or anything associated with it. Now on with the story!)

"Oh," was all Aang said.

"So what now?" Adam asked.

Sokka shrugged. "Stay here and hope Appa gets better." Frehor jumped into his lap. Sokka started petting my cat. Frehor purred.

"He'll get better," I spoke confidently. Then, to myself, I added, "He has to."

A few minutes passed in silence.

"What happened in Pequeña Ciudad del Río?" Adam asked.

"Little River Town, or Jang Hui," I explained to the confused Gaang.

"Well, they were happier. They were visited by their river spirit last night," Sokka explained.

"The Painted Lady," I remembered. Then I zoned out of the conversation.

Think about it, a little voice in my head told me, Katara helped out Jang Hui, your memory is fading. Think about it…..

By the Masters…. I'm not losing my memory, it's already lost. I regain my memory when the events happen… I still know one event… but I can't change anything because I don't know exactly what's going to happen and when. Hm…

"ZARLA!" Adam shouted in my ear.

"What!" I asked, jumping up and getting ready for a fight.

"You zoned out for awhile. I tried snapping my fingers, calling you, and shoving you. Are you okay?" Adam asked as I sat back down in my spot. He didn't seem fazed by my actions. The Gaang tensed, but as I watched, they all relaxed.

Okay, I know what you're thinking. "Of course she's okay, she was only engrossed in her thoughts!" Well, you see, with me, it's not a good thing. I'm usually thinking about that tirón and what almost happened. It's like a nightmare you can't wake up from, or a horror movie you don't like, but can't look away.

"Yes, just thinking," I answered.

"About what?" Adam's tone wasn't harsh, but it had a hint of a demand to it.

"About my strange memory fuzz. I'm not losing my memory. It's already gone, but I still remember the names of the episodes, one major event, and how much I liked the episodes. But I don't know when or how the events take place. It sucks, but perhaps it is best."

"Why?" Toph asked in her usual blunt way.

"As I said before, I believe I would try to change it, and then everything would be screwed up."

Silence reigned, probably because they knew it was true.

"Well, I should probably start dinner," Katara said, breaking the ice.

Sokka dug around in a small box. "Here you go."

"No way Sokka, I'm not cooking that," Katara said.

"Two headed fish?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sokka said.

"I'll pass."

"I second that," Adam declared.

Toph pointed to where our vibrations were probably strongest- right at our feet. "What they said."

Katara nodded and walked off.

"I'll go with her," Aang volunteered. He left, following Katara, leaving Toph, Sokka, Adam, and I at camp.

"It's occurred to me that we really don't know anything at all about your world. Care to tell us about it?" Sokka inquired.

So Adam and I described our world. Katara and Aang came back in the middle of it. Katara started dinner, listening quietly. We talked about everything we knew about our world- Katara interrupting to tell us to eat our dinner. We then described our country, and then we added in part of a song.

"_I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free,_

_And I won't forget the ones who died who gave that right to me,_

_I'll proudly stand up next to you and defend her still today,_

_Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,_

_God bless the USA!"_

"So…what do you mean be 'America'," the word sounded odd when Sokka said it, "is a free country?"

"Don't get us wrong, we have rules and laws just like any country, but we have rights as well," I said.

"For example, Zarla told me that in Ba Sing Se, they couldn't speak out against the Dai Lee. Well, in America, you can say really anything about the government- other than plans for murder- and not get into any trouble."

"We have this REALLY old official piece of paper called 'the Bill of Rights', which are ten amendments to the US Constitution. The first ne is freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition, which are self-explanatory."

"Then there are others, such as soldiers in, time of peace, cannot go into civilians' houses and live there. There's also the right to have weapons, right to a fair and speedy trial, right to trial by jury, and so on and so forth, ensuring that every American citizen cannot be treated unfairly."

"There's also another REALLY, REALLY old piece of official paper called 'the Declaration of Independence'. Believe it or not, it was a letter. It became the foundation for our country, the USA. It's history though, and as we said, it's really, really old, so it has a special container that it's in so it doesn't crumble in little bits. It says we have the rights to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'"

"We've had wars, hardships, and everything else a country does, so don't think for one second we're perfect. We aren't, but it could be a heck of a lot worse," Adam explained.

I looked towards the stars, surprised at how bright they were.

"It's late. We'd best go to sleep now," I commented.

Adam looked up and nodded in agreement. Sokka banked the fire and everyone went to their respective tents. I stayed under the stars, however. And Toph made her tent fresh every night.

I fell asleep to the sounds of the Avatar world's night and long, slow blinking of the stars.

_Rustle. Rustle rustle. _

_What? _I thought. I woke up, just in time to see Aang chase after Katara. I decided to follow them. No, I didn't know why I did that. I still don't know. Anyways, I followed them stealthily, obviously. I hear Aang's cries to get the attention of the "Painted Lady". I saw him leap on the rooftop and watched Katara try to get away.

"It's not going to work," I muttered to myself. I myself had found a nice pole to climb on to get to the rooftop. I heard Aang and Katara's discussion and the revilement of Katara's identity.

"Wait… who's that up there?" Aang asked.

"Mierda!" I said under my breath. Now, let me tell you, having the Avatar and his teacher ready to send attacks at you is not a very appealing prospect. It's about as appealing as fighting a ReDead from the Legend of Zelda series with nothing but bombs. No ocarina, no shield, no sword, just bombs, mind you.

"Show yourself!" Katara demanded quietly.

"Calm down, it's just me. Can you stop pointing icicles at my head? It's not very comfortable feeling like you're about to have your eyes stabbed out."

Aang and Katara looked at each other, Katara dropping her icicles and Aang falling out of his stance.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Same as you, I guess. Don't ask why, I just did."

"Oh great, there's someone else on the rooftop," Katara muttered, getting her icicles ready and Aang falling into his stance again. I looked at the top. I didn't feel threatened. I could recognize that hazelnut hair anywhere.

"Adam, you still suck at hiding," I told him.

"I guess I need to work on it then, don't I?" Adam said, dropping from the roof.

"Following me?"

"Yep."

"You always were a light sleeper."

"Alright, I know you guys are best friends and all, but can you have this conversation later? There's something we need to do. Come on Aang." Katara dragged the aforementioned boy off by his wrist.

"Wait, what can we do to help you?" I asked.

Katara and Aang thought for a moment.

"Try to keep Toph and Sokka from finding out?" Adam suggested.

Katara and Aang's eyes brightened. Then they got huge smiles on their faces.

"Try to do that, but remember-" Aang started.

"Don't lie. Toph will sense it if we do," I finished.

"Exactly. We're off! Let's go Katara!" Aang leapt from ice floe to ice floe, the little islands melting every time Aang's foot left. Katara did her running across the water thing, and Adam and I turned back.

"You still suck at stealth," I told him.

"How do you make it seem so easy?" he inquired.

"Easy. I'm more flexible than you are, and I have a different frame." It was true. While Adam wasn't a body builder, helping carry heavy things made him more fit than he would've been, seeing as he plays video games, does his homework, and talks to me more than he exercises. He was somewhat stocky, but he landed on his feet quite heavily. It took a lot of effort and time for him to be as quiet as he's walking now, one of the reasons we're going so slow. I, on the other hand, was lither than he was, and with my lighter frame, I didn't step so heavily. Stealth came easily to me, while power came semi-easily to him. His emerald eyes narrowed in concentration as he quieted his footsteps.

We made it to camp, but Toph had felt us coming long beforehand.

"Hello," she said, somewhat displeasingly.

"We're busted, aren't we?" Adam and I asked in unison.

"Yeah, pretty much," Sokka said, holding up the bag of purple berries.

"It's rude to go through people's stuff without permission you know," I scolded him.

He shrugged it off, retorting with "It's my sister's."

"Not a particularly good excuse," Adam said.

"So? I have to make sure she's not doing anything bad. I made a promise to my dad, saying I would keep her safe. You know what it's like, don't you?"

"Yes. Yes I do. I'm going to sleep," Adam informed us shortly. He stalked off towards his sleeping bag and flopped down on it. Within minutes, soft snoring could be heard.

"What was that about?" Toph asked.

"He knows what it's like, having made a promise to someone important to him. He made one to me," I told them.

"What was his promise?" Sokka asked, his grumpy attitude fading away.

"Seré siempre quédate con tú," I told them, quoting Adam, "It means 'I will always stay with you, Zarla'."

"When did he say this?" Sokka asked, very curious, "And why?"

"He said it after the 'incident'," I sighed. My family didn't understand and my 'friends' believed the rumors for a short time. All of them except one.

Adam.

I asked Adam to not leave. All he said to me was "Seré siempre quédate con tú." I knew then that I would always have at least one friend who would stay until the end.

Toph and Sokka, sensing I didn't want to say more, retired until Aang and Katara came back. They both fell asleep, hoping for at least a few hours of rest. I knew I should join them, but there was one thing nagging me at the back of my mind. We promised to try to distract Toph and Sokka, but I feel as if we failed, or as if I should try to warn Aang and Katara. I seriously thought about leaving them a note, but I can't write in Chinese. It's not my division. So, all in all, they were screwed. As were Adam and I, because we promised to try to not let them figure it out. I suppose that we would just have to let the events take their course. The issue settled, I went to my mat. Frehor went and cuddled against Adam tonight, seeing as he needed a little more comfort than I did. After a few long minutes of gazing at the stars, sleep washed over me, pulling me into the no man's land, where there are no nightmares, but no dreams either. Just an endless vortex of blackness.

*Time Skip!*

I woke up, hearing light footsteps signaling Katara and Aang were back. Toph and Sokka were waiting for them, and Adam was still sleeping. Nothing can wake this guy up. Nothing except me.

I walked over to him. I decided to shout in his ear to wake him up. As I said, nothing can wake him up short of yelling or playing an extremely high note next to him.

"Adam! Wake up!"

"Urgh…"Adam opened his eyes, seeing me smiling and Toph and Sokka behind me. "Oh, it's just you Zarla."

"Who did you expect?"

Adam opened his mouth to comment, but was interrupted by Aang's voice. "Ha ha! Bwoosh!"

"Shh! We don't want to wake Sokka!" I heard Katara's voice whisper-yell.

"A little too late for that!" I called to her.

Katara and Aang had stepped around the corner. They noticed Toph and Sokka standing accusingly in front of them, and Adam and I looking at the ground as if it were the most interesting thing.

"I take it the morning walk excuse isn't going to work?" Aang asked.

"Nope, sorry," I responded. Katara glared at us.

"Sorry, but they found out before we got back. We couldn't exactly warn you," I said. Katara sighed and looked down.

Sokka, however calm he was before, now blew his top. "Katara, what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy. We're leaving right now, since we know Appa isn't sick." Appa groaned at the mention of his name and stood up, obviously understanding what Sokka said. "And how long did you know about this?" Sokka demanded, turning on Aang.

"Hey, I just found out this morning," Aang said defensively.

We started packing up our things. I think Katara still held a grudge against us because she kept giving us glares. Oh well.

We were very close to being done when we heard motors.

"What's going on?" Toph asked. She couldn't "see" the jet skis on the water, zooming toward the village.

"Fire Nation soldiers are heading toward the village," Aang informed her.

"What did you do?" Sokka half asked, half exclaimed.

"I… kind of destroyed their factory," Katara replied guiltily.

"You _what!_"

"It was your idea!" Katara exclaimed.

"I was joking! I also said to use spirit magic and made funny noises! Did you even think this through? The army's going to blame the villagers! They're heading there _right now_ to get revenge!"

"Well, what was I supposed to do!" Katara demanded.

"Leave! Do nothing!" Sokka shouted at his sister. You could practically see the vein on Katara's forehead popping and the anime anger mark on her forehead.

"No! I will never, _ever_ turn my back on people who need me!" She got up and prepared to head down to the village. "I'm going down to the village, and I am gonna do whatever I can."

Silence reigned while Sokka searched inside his soul.

Sokka had stopped his searching and nodded. He went over to his sister and grabbed her shoulder.

"Wait. I'm coming, too," he said.

"I thought you didn't want to help," Katara replied.

"_You_ need _me,_ and I will never turn my back on _you._"

Katara smiled. "Sokka, you really do have a heart."

And then they gave each other a sibling-ish hug.

"He really does have a heart, doesn't he?" Aang said, overcome by the touching moment.

He received a slap to the back of the head and a punch to the chest in reply, the latter knocking him off his feet.

"What was that for?" he demanded, picking himself up. By now, Sokka and Katara had stopped hugging and were joining with the group again.

"Yes, it was touching, but we have more important things to worry about, say, the villagers _who are about to get burned! Literally!_" I yelled.

"So, what's the master plan Katara?" Adam asked, hoping to switch the subject.

"Hm…" Katara thought for a moment, as did Sokka. The Sokka snapped his fingers.

"That's it! Katara, you go down to the village as the Painted Lady. Stand on the docks and scare the firebenders. Aang, stay underneath the docks where she stands and help her with the spirit magic with your airbending. Toph, take a giant slab of rock, find a cave, and slam it against the ground. Appa, you go with her a groan after the rock hits the ground. I'll play a tune on your flute, Aang. And you two," here he addressed Adam and I, "are on crowd control. They haven't seen you, so try to blend in and make sure nothing happens to them. Toph, join them when you hear sounds of fighting. Momo… just stay out of trouble," he said in an exasperated tone to the flying lemur.

"Aye, aye, Captain Sokka!" Adam and I said in unison. We started heading down towards the village. Don't ask us how we got there, for we will never be able to answer that question. We don't know ourselves. We could hear a comment from Sokka before we crossed the river.

"Captain Sokka… yeah, I like that." Then he, Katara, Appa, Aang, and Toph moved into positions.

Anyways, Adam and I made it into the village and stood at the back of the crowd, listening to the General's speech.

"I thought we could live as neighbors, in peace. But I guess I was wrong. You steal our food, our medicine… and then you destroy our factory."

In my head, my thought process was _Yeah, right. The Fire Nation, whom even their own citizens hate, living in peace. The villagers aren't fit enough to steal, much less destroy the damn factory!_

During this, Doc/Xu/Bushi shouted random things amongst the lines of "It wasn't us, it was the Painted Lady!"

"Oh right, the mysterious Painted Lady did it," the general said sarcastically, "and I suppose she drew the army emblem on your containers, too. This is a town of thieves and liars!" He shot a fire blast at one of the nearby houses. Adam and I looked at each other before I snuck away to see if there was anyone in the house.

Thankfully, there wasn't. I missed the rest of the speech and the "mysterious" fog that announced to Adam and I that Katara was coming. If I looked very closely, I could see the silhouette of Aang underneath the wood that made up the dock, but at first glance, he appeared to be a regular shadow.

"There is no Painted Lady!" the general exclaimed at a young boy who said the Painted Lady was coming.

"What is that sound?" the female backup soldier asked.

She was referring to Toph's floor banging and Appa's groaning. **(A/N: Don't overanalyze that.)**

"Maybe it is her," the male soldier speculated.

Just then, Katara appeared. She looked just like the figurine. She stands there for a moment, for dramatic effect, and then rushes forward towards the firebenders with her own bending. She landed on the dock without a sound. She walked towards them, very, very slowly.

The general shoved his cronies forward, making Adam and I roll his eyes at his cowardice.

"Do something!" he ordered. The two soldiers approached Katara with their swords drawn. Katara looked up sharply, and Aang blew a fierce gust, blowing off the soldiers headdresses. The two ran off with exclamations of fear and shock.

"Stand your ground!" the general demanded two of the remaining soldiers. Adam and I started moving with the crowd as they divided into two groups. Adam stuck with one, I stuck with the other. We remained hidden, but still in sight of the other. We worked like only people with a strong bond could, ones with a bond that could never be broken.

A feeling suddenly sprouted in my chest. One I somewhat recognized. It felt different from the first time I felt it however. This time, it did not have a sense of trepidation. This one was pure.

_Could it be….?_ I wondered.

_Could I be in falling in love with my best friend in Avatar land?_

**A/N: Goddesses, I feel like a total jerk for not posting. Forgive me!**

**Review, everything is accepted except stupid arguments without solid evidence. **


	7. The Last of the Painted Lady

The Last of the Painted Lady

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Adam and Zarla.

Zarla's POV

I shook my head. The villagers might need help, and me being distracted by my thoughts is not going to help them in the slightest.

Katara had blasted two of the jet skis into a nearby cliff. She raised her hand threateningly towards the soldiers. The message was clear.

_Get out of this village or else you're next._

The backup soldiers got the hint and left on the remaining jet skis, leaving the general at Katara's mercy.

He must be very stupid, for he got into a fighting stance and spoke to Katara. "I'll take care of you myself!"

He threw an arc of fire towards Katara, trying to hurt or kill her, obviously. Aang, however, was fiercely protective of his friends (especially Katara) and threw Katara into the air on a blast of wind. Then, just for good measure, Aang cuts the deck in two with a blast of wind that sent the general flying into the river.

Adam and I looked at each other, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing.

_OWNED!_

Katara stood on the water in front of the floundering general with her arms raised threateningly.

"Leave this village and never come back."

The general furiously swam away from her. A jet ski came and picked him up, the zoomed away. Adam and I were relieved. No villagers were harmed in the fight, so, awesomesauce. I saw Sokka and Toph rowing up to the village whilst the villagers applauded Katara.

The little boy Katara gave fish to spoke up. "I knew you'd come."

"Thank you!" Dock said.

"Painted Lady, you're the best!" a random villager exclaimed.

"Me and my brothers really owe you a lot." Dock looked more closely at her, and then shouted in surprise. "Hey, wait a minute! I know you! You're not the Painted Lady, you're that colonial girl!"

"Yeah," the little boy said, "you're that lady that gave me fish!"

"You've been tricking us! You're a waterbender!" Dock spoke angrily.

"She's a waterbender! How dare you act like our Painted Lady!"

The crowd surged forward, but Adam and I darted to each side of Katara while Sokka stood in front of her.

"Maybe she is a waterbender, but she was just trying to help you. Because of her, that factory won't be polluting your river, and the army is gone. You should be down on your knees thanking her!" Sokka shouted at the villagers. His sister stepped forward and half shoved him out of the way. She also shoved us out of the way as well.

"Sokka, it's okay." She looked at the villagers and took off her hat. "I shouldn't have acted like someone I wasn't, and I shouldn't have tricked you. But I felt like I had to do something. It doesn't matter if the Painted Lady is real or not. Because your problems are real, and this river is real. You can't wait around for someone to help you. You have to help yourself."

"She's right," Dock said in a tone I couldn't identify, "but what should we do?"

Toph, who had hidden in the crowd, came out in a very cartoon-ish style and said in a really bad disguised voice "Maybe we can clean the river!"

"Yeah!" Dock exclaimed, brightening. "We can clean the river!"

The villagers cheered, obviously pleased with this idea.

"Thank you," Dock said, addressing Katara, "You know, you're not so bad for a waterbender."

"You wouldn't mind keeping that a secret, by the way, would you?" Sokka inquired.

"No problem. Keeping my mouth shut is a personal specialty. My brother Xu, on the other hand, hoo! He's a blabbermouth."

"So, we're screwed?" I asked Adam. He just looked at me confusedly. I shook my head, saying "You'll get it later."

"So Dock, are you gonna help us clean?" Katara asked the hat guy.

"No, ma'am. I'm going to get my other brother, Bushi. He loves cleaning rivers." He switched hats right in front of us, leaving Adam in a facepalm and Aang looking triumphant.

"Aha! I knew it! I knew you were the same guy. You're the shop owner and the boat guy!"

"Oh, you must be talking about my brothers, Dock and Xu." Bushi said this as if it was a normal occurrence. Which it probably was.

"No, I just saw you! You switched hats and called yourself a different name!" Aang exclaimed, exasperated.

"Oh, you know who does that? My brother Dock." Bushi dropped his voice into a whisper. "He's crazy."

The following smack from Adam's second facepalm could've been heard in an active warzone. Aang fumed, his face growing into a very startling shade of red.

"Bushi, I think you've had a little too much polluted water," I spoke. We moved on, quickly cleaning the river. Adam, Sokka, and I went with the villagers and used nets to fish out the pollution. Katara, Aang, and Toph helped out by bending. Toph had made a boat out of earth so that way she could "see". Aang posed as an earthbender, not wanting to reveal his identity, just in case.

Dock- I mean, Bushi- asked Adam and me a few questions, having not seen us before. We replied with semi-vague answers, not wanting to give away too much, but also wanting to satisfy his curiosity enough to get away with it. After awhile, he stopped. By sunset, the river was clean.

We all went back to our old camp, Adam and I sporting a slight tan from the day's activities, but Aang and Toph remained as pale as ever. Katara and Sokka really couldn't get more tan than they already were, so, yeah. Adam and I fell on our bedrolls and looked to the stars, finding different constellations and naming them. He named one the Triforce, for if you looked closely, it appeared as a tracing for the symbol of the Zelda games. I named one the Archer, for it looked like an archer ready to fire. We both fell asleep soon after that. I had a dream, but it was more like a memory returning (because it was). It was of Katara's confrontation with the real Painted Lady. After that, the black void returned, and time speed up. Soon enough, it was dawn again, and we were on the move.

**A/N: What's this? Two chapters in two days? Albeit, this is the shortest chapter I remember writing. Hard to believe one episode took this long to do. I can't wait until the Day of Black Sun. *Grins evilly* Oh yes, a fun time indeed.**


	8. Nonbender Feeling Useless

**A/N: Wow. I really need to watch this show again. I honestly thought the Puppet Master was up next. Oh well. Fun for another time. Now, we have…. Sokka's Master, so non-bender character development! Sweetness. Anyways, Link is going to say the disclaimer.**

**Link: Why me? I'm not even in this plot!**

**Me: Now you are. Now read the cards that I translated into Hylian for you.**

**Link: Zorua Illusion owns nothing in this story except for her characters; Zarla and Adam. If she ever forgets to say this in any following chapter, this disclaimer will become universal.**

**Me: Thank you, Link. *Gives him Great Fairy's Tears***

**Link: You went through the Cave of Ordeals again, didn't you? I wondered where the ocarina went. And I thought you hated that place?**

**Me: On with the story!**

Chapter 8: Nonbenders Feeling Useless.

Adam's POV

We had left the little river town a few days ago. Now we were nearby one of the larger cities of the Fire Nation. Zarla and I were slowly getting used to the extreme heat of the Fire Nation. We were from the northern coast of the United States (exactly where, I won't tell you) and so extreme heat wasn't pleasant for us when we had nothing else to think about.

Recently, the Gaang had started to grow on us. They trusted us, at least a little bit more than when we first met. I believe our strange behavior proved us to be from a world more advanced in technology and medicine than theirs. Aang has personally gone to Zarla twice, asking something that she refuses to tell me. Sokka has come to me a once, asking for some new jokes after I cracked a few on the ride to where we are now. Katara…. Well, she's a closed box. I'm not entirely sure about her trust, but Zarla and I are pretty certain that she trusts us just a little bit more. On a scale of 1 to 7, we're about a 2.5 (two and a half). And Toph… well, she's Toph. She trusts us, mainly because if we betrayed her she could easily hand our butts to us on a golden platter.

Anyways, Zarla predicted it to be around the time of a meteor shower. Her hypothesis was confirmed by a meteor streaking by one night while we were both suffering from a bad case of insomnia. We decided to stay up the next night, but Zarla and I slept in the saddle to compensate for our lost night of sleep.

It was the night of the meteor shower now, and Zarla and I were wide awake. Everyone was up, including Frehor Noches **(A/N: I actually translated the name wrong. It actually means "Death Night" not "Shadow's Night". Sorry)** and Toph. Why I mentioned Toph being up is because we were watching a meteor shower… in the sky… where she can't "see". Why she was staying up with us didn't make any sense, but I'm not the Avatar expert. Zarla is… err, was.

Finally, the first meteor of the big night appeared. Then another, and another and another. Soon we were seeing about five meteors at one time.

"Wow, this is amazing to watch," Katara stated in awe. We were under a makeshift roof that covered Appa.

"Kind of makes you realize how insignificant you are" Sokka said in the same tone as his sister.

"'I'm significant!' screamed the dust speck,'" Zarla quoted a Calvin and Hobbes comic.

"Eh, you've seen nothing once, you've seen it a thousand times," Toph says indifferently.

Suddenly, a sparkle appeared up in the sky. Apparently one of the meteors was going fast enough to make it through the atmosphere and large enough to not burn up completely.

"Oh man. You've never _not_ seen anything like this," Sokka told her with wide eyes as he watched the meteorite. **(A/N: I believe this is the correct term. If I have these terms mixed up, please tell me!) **We all turned and watched the meteorite fall and land in an explosion that was so bright, all of us (except Toph) had to shield our eyes.

"Oh great, now we're going to see spots for weeks," Zarla mentioned sarcastically.

Toph stood up right as Zarla was saying this. Zarla glanced back at the explosion and then at something in the distance. Her eyes widened in fear.

"Guys we need to get on Appa and stop that fire!"

"Why?" the Gaang asked. I realized it a split second later, as did Katara and Toph.

"Because it's going to destroy that town" we all stated in unison.

After that, everyone climbed on Appa's back.

"Yip yip Appa!" Aang said with urgency.

A few minutes later and we were flying around the explosion site, where a large fire had formed.

"That fire's going to fry that town!" Katara exclaimed.

"Not if we can stop it!" Aang said determinedly.

Appa landed and everyone jumped off except Katara who mentioned something about a creek and slid onto Appa's neck. A quick "yip yip" was heard and off they went.

"Toph, let's make a trench to keep the fire from coming any closer." Aang gave his input to his teacher.

"What should I do?" Sokka moped dejectedly.

Momo chose this convenient time to fly in front of Sokka.

"Keep an eye on Momo," Aang said, quickly running to help out his teacher.

"So what, I'm just a lemur sitter?" Sokka asked, petting Momo, "There there, feel better."

Well, Zarla and I felt pretty useless, too. Nonbenders vs. fire. No contest. But apparently Zarla had a plan.

"Adam, take this and toss it on any small, stray fires around." She tossed me a box of baking soda that must have been in her bag. How odd we find many useful things in there, but none of our technology. I wonder….

Anyways, I did as Zarla told me to. There were actually a lot of stray fires, but only a few could've been potential problems. Zarla hung out with Sokka and Momo so Sokka wouldn't feel alone. I bet he did anyways though. Who could blame him? Zarla and I had experiences he could only imagine, and everyone had special abilities, like bending, that he didn't. But I bet Zarla knows (or knew) his specialties. He still looked kind of bummed.

Aang and Toph did their thing, while Sokka and I put out some fires left behind. I let Sokka get one of them, but I gave him some baking soda because he was taking too long.

Katara came by with the water, which Aang took.

"Sokka, Adam, Zarla, stand clear!" he said.

"Right, stand clear. Got it," Sokka spoke disappointedly.

Aang took the water and airbended a blast of air behind it, creating a snow shower. Aang stands there, dusting his hands off while Appa and Katara land nearby and Toph walks up to him.

"Good work, everybody," Aang says with his usual chirp.

Sokka's head pops out from a pile of snow. Momo who had tried to go ice skating, slid past him. Zarla went over and got him out of the snow by picking a single piece that made the structure collapse.

Suddenly, a snowball hit me. I turned to the culprit.

"Snowball fight!" Zarla smiled, throwing another snowball at me. This time, I dodged and picked up my own snowball. I threw it at her. Her smile never dropped. Instead, she caught my hastily made snowball and threw it back at me, hitting me on the side. We kept throwing snowballs at each other, the Gaang watching us as we threw back and forth. Eventually, a stray ball hit Aang. He smiled, then picked up some snow with his waterbending and threw it on us.

"Hax! I call hax!" Zarla and I said in unison. We looked at each other, and then fell over laughing; ignoring the confused looks the Gaang gave us.

"Alright you guys, it's late. We should all probably go to bed," Katara said, smiling. She seemed to have gotten over the little episode at Jang Hui.

"Final," I said. Okay, I know it looks English, but it's not. It's Spanish for "fine". It's pronounced differently than the English "final". It sounds like "feen-al". We good? Okay

"Fine," Zarla translated for me.

Anyways, we all went to sleep and arrived in town the next morning. Thanks to the intense heat, the ice and snow made last night melted. We arrived in town without any mishaps, since both Zarla and I were able to get to sleep. Frehor Noches was told to stay behind with Appa and Momo. All the animals seem to get along pretty well.

We were eating lunch at a local restaurant. Everyone got a tray, except Zarla and I. Zarla and I got something to drink, and Zarla got some fish for Frehor Noches.

"These people have no idea how close they were to getting toasted last night," Aang mentioned.

"Yeah, the worst thing about being in disguise is we don't get the hero worship anymore. I miss the love," Toph replied while eating a dumpling.

"Boo-hoo poor heroes," Sokka snapped sarcastically.

"What's your problem? You haven't even touched your smoked sea slug," Katara said. (On a semi-related note, our theorized-to-be-magical bags do provide food. But since it's so strange and only produces one person's worth of food a day, the Gaang gets their own.)

"It's just… all you guys can do this awesome bending stuff. Like putting out forest fires and flying around, and making other stuff fly around. I can't fly around, okay? Even you guys," he gestured to where Zarla and I were, nearby him on the floor, "can do this… amazing stuff with science and your mind. I can't do….anything."

"That's not true, no one can read a map like you" Katara tried to cheer up her brother.

"I can't read at all!" Guess who said that.

"Yeah, and who keeps us laughing with sarcastic comments all the time? I mean look at Katara's hair, right? What's up with that?" Aang also tried his hand.

While Aang and Katara had a short conversation about that, Zarla got up, went over to Sokka, and whispered a few words in his ear. Sokka shook his head. Zarla nodded and walked back over to me.

"What did you say?" I asked, curious.

"Something for him and him alone," was the only reply she gave.

"Look, I appreciate the effort, but the fact is each of you is _so_ amazing and special, and I'm not. I'm just the guy in the group who's… regular. No offense," Sokka directed the last part to us.

"None taken," Zarla and I spoke in unison.

"Do you guys do that often?" Toph interrogated, annoyed.

"Too often, but it's just because we think alike," I replied.

Meanwhile, Katara had sat next to her brother and gave him a shopping spree. We ended up in a weapons shop.

"¡Dios mío!" Zarla exclaimed softly. Neither of us had seen so many weapons in one place. "This is common?"

"This isn't common?" Katara asked, surprised.

"For another time," Zarla said, looking around warily. I swear, she could beat a spy in carefulness.

Sokka had gone around the weapon shop, looking for something to "reinvigorate his battling." So far, he's tries a chain, a giant club, dual swords and others, including a too long spear. On the last one, Zarla nearly got skewered because she was trying tell him it was too long for him.

"Hey Sokka, what about that sword on the wall?" Zarla pointed out, carefully taking the spear and putting it back on the rack.

Sokka, who was using some form of a short sword as a toothpick, looked over and his eyes lit up. Putting the sword back on the rack, he ran over to the sword on the wall.

"Ooh…," Sokka said, looking at the blade and touching the scabbard, which had a dragon depicted on it, "That's what Sokka's talking about."

"You have a good eye," the shopkeeper said. By now, everyone had gathered around Sokka. "That's an original from Piandao, the greatest sword master and sword maker in the entire Fire Nation. He lives in that big castle up the road from here." And then the shopkeeper left.

"That's it! That's what you needed all along Sokka!" Aang exclaimed.

"A sword?" he asked.

"Not a sword, a master. We've all had masters to help us get better. You should see if you can study with Piandao."

"That's a great idea, Aang," Katara started, "I could've never gotten to where I am without Master Pakku. Everyone needs a teacher."

"I learned from the badger moles. They don't talk, but they're still good teachers," Toph mentioned.

"I wouldn't know the stuff I do now if it weren't for my own teachers," Zarla added.

"It would be nice to be a master swordfighter. All right, I'll talk to him," Sokka agreed. We all cheered and walked out the door, thanking the shopkeeper even though we didn't buy anything. Zarla had a few gold coins in her bag, so she set them on the desk and ran out to catch up with the rest of us.

"Are you guys going to come with me?" Sokka asked Zarla and I.

"No," Zarla replied, "We already have weapons and knowledge on how to use them. This is your turn to shine."

Sokka nodded.

"But do me one thing," I added in before Sokka left. (The Gaang plus us had decided Sokka would do this on his own. After all, none of us really had a need to learn the sword.

"What?" Sokka asked.

"Be the awesome guy I know you are." With that, I swung my arm around his shoulders in a friendly man hug.

"I'll be sure to do that buddy." And with that, he was off to the castle while we headed off to camp.

And so we went to camp. Everyone got into a circle and laid on their backs. About an hour later, Aang asked everyone "What should we do today?"

"I'm tapped out. I already pick my toes, twice," Toph replied.

"Twice?"

"The first time was just for cleaning, but the second time's just for the sweet picking sensation."

"Sokka's been in charge of the schedule. I'm not sure what we should be doing," Katara realized.

"Well, the tight schedule is probably out the window now. I don't see why we can't come up with a few things to do ourselves," Zarla contributed.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"You didn't master waterbending in a day, did you?" Zarla asked rhetorically, "Sokka's training is going to take a few days, perhaps even a week or so. So the tight schedule is out the window, but we can do a few things to prepare ourselves for departure."

"Well, actually, I have a few ideas," Toph said.

"And they are?" I asked.

"You never did finish explaining Pokémon to us, and also, I heard you'd tell something to Katara later."

"Oh! That's right," Zarla exclaimed. "Well, we'll explain the second one first. Weapon shops, I guess you could say _are_ actually common in where we're from, but it's not filled with swords and axes and armor. It's filled with our own technology."

"We can go in… it's just we'd rather not," I added, "It's kind of scary looking around, especially when you think too much."

"Anyway, moving on. Let me explain about the legends again." And so Zarla explained the Pokémon legends. And then she explained the Pokémon world, the regions, the number of Pokémon, the Teams, and then Pokémon types, and then the Pokémon and Trainers/Coordinators/Breeders/Stylists themselves. It took awhile (about four hours) and by then, Sokka still wasn't back.

"Where do you think he could be?" Katara inquired worriedly.

Zarla, who had been talking almost non-stop, gestured to me, then the direction of the castle, then the night sky, and then what she approximated to be the east.

"What Zarla means is that Sokka has probably spent the night at Master Piandao's house for his training. He probably won't be back for a few days," I replied for her.

Katara looked like she was about to go on a tirade, but Aang stopped her before she could.

"Sokka's got a good head on his shoulders. He doesn't need to be babysat."

Katara looked like she was about to retort when Toph stopped her.

"Relax Sweetness. If the guy is a sword master and maker, he's probably a non-bender. Now, if this Piandao guy was a bender, then you could be worried, but I don't believe he is. Sokka could probably get out of any situation with that guy."

Katara still didn't seem convinced.

"Katara," Zarla began in a raspy voice, "this is something he needs to do on his own. He doesn't need his sister to come and rescue him every time. This is something he needs to overcome on his own. I know that it doesn't seem right, but it's what he needs to do."

Katara still didn't look happy, but she let it go… kind of.

"Believe me Katara, I know how it goes," I told her, "Do you know how much trouble this one is?" I nudged Zarla. The siblings thing is an old joke between us, but it evolved into something more, for me at least.

"Wait, you guys are siblings?" Toph asked.

"No, it's an old joke between us," I informed.

"You guys are weird," Toph shot at me.

Zarla rolled her eyes. "You're telling us."

Silence ensued for awhile. Then Aang finally spoke up.

"So… now what?"

Zarla, who's voice had now recovered a bit after some home remedies (Zarla's way of taking care of discomfort without sleeping/taking medicine. The list consists of eating small snacks and drinking fluids), spoke up. "Now we rest. And then we wait."

And so we did.

**A/N: Whoo-hoo! Finally, another chapter done! I'm so sorry about the inconsistent updates, but life's a jerk, you know? Anyways, here comes something I know you won't like.**

**For many of the upcoming episodes in Book 3: Fire, I will post an author's note about questions that I want you guys to answer. For example, the main question that's bugging me now is will there be bloodbending in the Puppet Master? Seriously. It bugs me to no end. Katara never really used bloodbending, except in the Southern Raiders, and she didn't need to do it. But I think of it as character development for Katara. So, the question is being asked now and will be asked again later for those who don't read the author's notes.**

**Thank you for your input, reviews, favoriting, and just reading my story. I know that it's completely cliché, but hey, I like it.**

**Send reviews, constructive criticism, or flames. But please do note that I will point out stupid logic in any flames. URLs of flamers will not be given. The flames will then be used to bake bread.**

**And one more thing completely unrelated to this story. Yes, I really do hate the Cave of Ordeals in Twilight Princess. Try facing five Redeads with just a sword. It sucks. And on the last level, with three Darknuts my controls decided to malfunction, forcing me to reload the game, going out of the Cave of Ordeals. If you've ever played a Zelda game, I think you'll know what I'm talking about and how irritating it is. If not, imagine playing Mario or Pokémon or some other game and take extra time to destroy every enemy. The Cave of Ordeals is long and annoying, but at least I got the fairies in all the provinces.**

**Oh geez this is long. Sorry!**

**Keep reading or writing!**

**~Zorua Illusion**


	9. Sokka's Fighting His Insane Teacher

**A/N: I have an announcement. My other Avatar story, Another Kataang Anastasia, will be updated as soon as I finish Sokka's Master. Well, not updated, but worked on. It will be updated, by about…. two or so chapters before I come back to this one. I'll make the same announcement later on the actually story itself. So, enjoy part two of Sokka's Master.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Zarla and Adam.**

**Also, I apologize if any of the characters created by Myke and Brian are extremely OOC.**

**On with the story!**

Sokka's Fighting With His Teacher

Adam's POV

I could not, for the life of me, believe my eyes.

Master Piandao had turned on Sokka, and they were now fighting with real swords.

Let me explain.

It all began when Sokka came back to camp a few days ago.

We were all just sitting around, bored out of our skulls. Katara had tried cracking a few jokes, but apparently a knack for humor is not shared between the two siblings. Zarla and I had entertained everyone with some stories and some music, but the instruments weren't our own and we were beginning to run out of facts. See, that's another thing with Zarla. Ask her something, she'll answer correctly, but when she wants to remember something that she knows, she can't. She hates it.

Anyways, Toph suddenly sat up, her hands on the ground. Zarla and I sat up too, just in case we needed to get up.

Her cry of "Sokka's coming!" eased our nerves. Aang and Katara, who were sleeping, woke up, looked at each other, and smiled. Zarla and I looked over the hill and saw Sokka come up in all his glory.

"Hey guys! What are you doing?" he asked. Zarla looked like she was going to answer, but Aang, Katara, and Toph ran up to him and gave him a group hug before she could.

"Sokka!" Aang exclaimed.

"You're back," Toph mentioned.

"We missed you so much," Katara said.

"Say something funny," Aang insisted.

"Funny how?" Sokka asked. Aang and Katara laughed heartily. Zarla shook her head. It takes me a lot to get her to laugh sometimes, and it appeared it was just one of those days.

"What's their deal?" Sokka asked Toph.

"I don't know. They missed you, or something. I didn't care." Though she turned away from Sokka, she couldn't hide the smile or blush from me.

"Thanks, that warms my heart. Anyway, I need some help."

"With what?" Zarla asked.

"I kind of need the meteor from two nights ago to make a sword."

Everyone was silent. Well, everyone minus Zarla.

"Why meteor?"

"I don't know… it just seems like it should be made into a sword."

"Good enough for me. Let's go get your sword." Zarla walked off towards where the meteor was, everyone else in tow. We ended up pulling it up the hill with a makeshift sled and Toph earthbending behind it to make sure it didn't fall. Sokka walked beside us until we made it to the castle. He then went up and used the knockers, and by that, I mean he took one in each hand and banged them wildly, forcing Zarla to cover her ears, they were so loud. Soon after, a man appeared. I assumed he was Master Piandao. You should know what he looks like, and the authoress is too tired to describe him (what?), so I'm not going to say what he looks like.

"Who's this?" Piandao asked.

"Oh, these are my friends," Sokka said, "Just other good Fire Nation folks."

Piandao bowed to us. Zarla and I bowed back.

"Do you think we could make a sword out of a meteorite?" Sokka asked hopefully.

Master Piandao looked at it closely. He set his hand on it- Zarla later said it might've been to test the strength or feel how it would form.

"We'll make a sword unlike any other in the world," he finally declared.

The group nodded and continued dragging the sled through. Toph had stopped earthbending and was now hanging onto Sokka's arm, since Aang, Katara, Zarla, and I were dragging the meteorite and she had to pretend she couldn't see. Because really, a blind person who doesn't walk like she's blind is a red flag.

To sum this whole boring thing few passages up, Sokka tells us he has to forge his sword, Piandao allows us to stay at his castle (which is HUGE. I mean so huge that Tony Stark would be impressed), we did, Sokka was insane and told Piandao that he actually was from the Southern Water Tribe, and Piandao went batshit insane.

The average day for Team Avatar. And this brings us to where we are now- Toph, Aang, Katara, Zarla and I standing on a balcony in shock and Sokka fighting a lunatic swords master. I don't know where the servant went. He told us this was his fight, apparently, but no one really heard him because, well, we were in shock. Katara and Zarla recovered quickly though.

"We have to help him!" Katara screeched, recovering.

Zarla frowned. "No we don't. Sokka's a big boy now, Katara, he doesn't need his little sister to rescue him every time something goes wrong. Now, here's my plan. Let Sokka hold his own. But if it looks like he _really_ needs help, then we intervene."

"But-"

"He's been in your shadow long enough, Katara," I spoke up, "He feels useless when you guys have to show up and rescue him. He's like a plant that you're over nurturing, Katara, and he's fine on his own. But even the best warrior takes comfort in allies when they are needed."

Afterwards, all of us were gripping the railing with white knuckles as we watched what we could of the fight. We heard Piandao shouting at Sokka.

"Excellent! Using your superior agility against an opponent… smart."

"Good use of terrain… fighting from the high ground."

"Yes! Use your surroundings! Make them fight for you!"

Finally, Sokka threw dirt in his eyes, thus leaving Piandao blind.

"Very resourceful."

We all held our breaths as Sokka started backing away. One sound and he was done for. I saw a twig… right before Sokka stepped on it. Piandao turned his head to where Sokka was, and, fast as lightning, disarmed him. Then he knocked Sokka on his back and pointed his sword at Sokka's head.

This was our cue. We jumped of the ledge and got into fighting positions. Piandao swung his sword towards us, making Aang, Toph, Katara and I stop, but Zarla just rolled under it and came up very close to him, a snarl on her face.

"Excellent work, Sokka." Piandao motioned with his hand, and the scabbard for the sword came flying through the air, forcing Zarla to roll backwards to void getting hit by the fancy work Piandao showed off. The scabbard landed perfectly, sheathing the sword.

"I think I'm a little too old to be fighting the Avatar."

Everyone got out of their stance… except Zarla.

"So is the Firelord, I think, but that doesn't stop him from sending out people to kill him," she growled.

Remember how I said Zarla was forgiving way back when? Well, only if you do something bad to her. It takes awhile for her to forgive if you threaten her friends. Believe me, people have threatened me before and, well, it did not turn out well for them. We'll just leave it at that.

Piandao rubbed away the dirt with the towel the butler had brought.

"You've seen a lot of the world, haven't you?" he asked, giving his sword to the butler and taking a drink.

Zarla relaxed a bit more, dropping out of her stance, but still ready to pounce.

"I've seen too much. But I know others have seen more. And as long as they can endure, so will I. Moving off this far too sappy moment, how'd you know?"

"Oh, I've been around awhile. You pick things up. Of course, I knew that from the beginning Sokka was Water Tribe. You might want to think of a better Fire Nation cover name. Try Lee. There's a million Lees." Piandao took a sip of his drink. I swear he could be the Avatar world's Tony Stark. (I'm thinking about him a lot today. I don't know why.)

"But why would you agree to train someone from the water Tribe?" Katara asked.

Zarla looked at me. "Why wouldn't you?" is the question written on both of our faces.

"The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation. Knowledge of the  
>arts belongs to us all."<p>

I swear, this man is a sage or something, the way he talks. He walked over to the black meteorite sword and gave it to Sokka.

"Sokka, you must continue your training  
>on your own. If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an<br>even greater master than I am."

Sokka bowed as he took his sword. The rest of the group bowed as well, including Zarla. I guess she forgave Piandao pretty quickly.

Everyone left the castle. However, the butler, Fat, chased us down to give us a small, brown bag.

"Wait! The Master wanted you to have this, as something to remember him by."

Sokka thanked him and Fat briskly walked away. Sokka dumped the contents into his hand.

"It's a Pai Sho tile."

"The white lotus…" Aang said, humming in thought.

"What does it mean?" Katara asked.

"Something important… something…." Zarla trailed off. It looked like she was fighting something in her mind. For some reason, I remember what she was saying after I helped her walk away from the jerk's unconscious form.

"El demonios del mente debe ser derrotado antes el demonios del cadáver capaz ser repelía." The demons of the mind must be defeated before the demons of the body can be repelled.

"Oh! That reminds me," Sokka said, "Toph, I thought you might like this since you've probably never had a chance to bend space earth before." Sokk took a small piece of meteorite he had saved and gave it to Toph.

"Sweet! Check this out!" The… rock… took on many random shapes.

"You know, I don't think there's such a thing a space earth. If it's from space, it's not really earth."

"Must you ruin everything?" Sokka complained.

"I can't believe I missed you."

We walked away towards our camp, wondering if any other physco was going to come after us.

Oh boy… we had no idea.

**A/N: And that's a wrap! Now another Kataang Anastasia will be updated twice. Two chapters. And then I'm going to work on another story for awhile, so I will say good-bye to the people reading this now. Don't worry- this fic will be completed, even if it's the last thing I do! But for now, I'm going to take a break from the adventures of Zarla and Adam and go back into 1916 Avatar world and Alagaesia. The other fic I'm writing is one of my headcannons on my profile.**


	10. Attacked By a Guy With a Tattoo

**A/N: I'm back! This whole episode will probably only be one chapter, since it mainly focuses on Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. **

**Disclaimer: I only own Zarla and Adam. Everything else belongs to their respective owners.**

**I apologize if any added scenes have Avatar characters OOC.**

Adam's POV

"Aang, I know swimming is fun and all, but do you really think you should be exposing yourself like that? Cover up!"

"What? I'm wearing trunks!"

Earlier that day, Aang had somehow managed to convince everyone to go swimming. Katara instantly agreed (she's a waterbender, of _course_ she did), Sokka was skeptical but agreed eventually, Toph and I didn't care, and Zarla cracked an eye open and said "Not my bison" before closing her eye again.

So we found ourselves in what I could describe as an oversized puddle. Aang was floating with Momo on his chest, Katara was wringing her hair out after some waterbending, Toph was soaking her feet with her hands on the "shore", Zarla was writing and imitating Toph with her feet in the water, Frehor was laying next to Zarla, and Sokka was…fishing. Oh boy.

Me? I'm mirroring Aang, floating around. I started bugging Zarla as soon as she put down what she was writing with and the paper she was writing on.

"Writing a novel Zarla?"

"Nope. Doing homework. Traveling with this crew who are on the way to stop the most evil man on this planet and I'm doing Geometry."

"Wow. Only you, Zarla."

"So says the guy that gets it all done at the last minute. If my guess is right, Spring Break is over in our world. Well, that is, if we share the same time space continuum and we aren't dead."

Allow me to explain. You see, Zarla and I don't know how we got here. Zarla figures that something totally bizarre and science-y took us here, or that somehow we died and this is the afterlife. The third theory is mine. I think I could be in a coma somewhere and this is just my imagination and Zarla is either also in a coma or worrying in the extremes. Probably a long shot for a Ferris Wheel, but really, what else are we supposed to believe? And for some reason, our bags have our homework for Spring Break in it. And the "time space continuum" thing is kind of similar to Sonic X, for lack of a better reference. When Cosmo came in, you found out the while only 6 months had passed in Mobius; 6 years had passed on Earth. We aren't sure if we're in a similar case or if the days are the same. We're going with the latter.

We both turned our heads as we heard delightful whoops coming from what sounded like…

"Did Aang just go down a tunnel?" Zarla asked. I shrugged.

"Why? Getting your memories back?"

"No. I'm still losing them. Now, I think that it's only at the end of an 'episode' that I'll get the entire story, how it happened originally."

I had no response. What do you say to someone who lost their memory and possibly is just an illusion?

Aang came back up several seconds later, begging Katara to go down with him. I started to try to get Zarla in the water. All my attempts failed, until I came up with the perfect plan. I pretended to give up and drift away for a few minutes, but later, I turned to Zarla.

"Hey Zarla."

"Yeah?" she questioned, turning around from where she was standing to watch the clouds.

"Raflemound."

That did it. Zarla started laughing, stepping closer and closer to the pool as she stumbled with laughter, until she finally fell in with a _splash._

"_Adam!"_ she called out once she had resurfaced. The Gaang was staring at us, me laughing my head off and Zarla glaring at me.

Apparently, Zarla had swept her arm across the water, getting the results of her effort into my mouth.

"Bleck!" I coughed, getting the disgusting taste out of my mouth. "What was that for?"

"If you really can't answer that question, you really are an idiot," Zarla replied with a straight face. She then started chasing me around the puddle… pool… thing. Aang and Katara apparently went down the slide a few more times by both of their shouts reaching our ears.

Everything good must come to an end, eventually, however, and we had to get out. We didn't leave the puddle crater, however and ended up sleeping next to it.

I woke up when I heard Zarla softly say "ouch!"

"Que esta mal?" I asked her groggily, still half asleep.

"Headache. A sense of danger."

Not even a second later, Toph woke up, quickly followed by the rest of the group.

"Guys, you're all going to think I'm crazy, but it feels like a metal man is coming," Toph stated.

"Mierda," Zarla cursed. She quickly looked for something she could lob at the man standing at the top of the cliff. Suddenly, a strange beam came out of the man's tattoo and blew up a nearby cliff, the resulting explosion sending us tumbling. Toph sent a herd of rocks after him, since she had regained her footing. The rocks were destroyed before they reached their target by another blast. A third beam was sent our way, Katara trying (and somewhat succeeding) at balancing out the blows. The water she used turned into a bunch of steam, however.

Appa roared.

The steam cloud covered the man, preventing him from seeing us, but also us from seeing him. We all hid behind some rocks, covering our heads from the explosions.

"This is insane! How can we beat a person who blows things up with his mind?" Zarla exclaimed from her place beside me.

"We can. Jump on Appa. I'll try to distract him." Aang ran away from the rest of the group, leaving us to scramble up to Appa's saddle, Zarla carrying Frehor, and Sokka at the reins.

"Yip yip!" And with that, we watched Aang battle the strange man until he used the momentum from a blast to shoot him into the sky, landing safely in the saddle next to Katara. She hugged him tightly when he landed.

"I'm okay," he stated. Momo leapt up on Aang's shoulder. Katara and Aang spread out a little, but didn't let go of each other.

"Well that was random," Toph tossed in.

"No, it wasn't." Zarla had her brow furrowed and was leaning forward, a sign that she was thinking. "He knows who you are. And even if he didn't, he does now."

"What do you mean, 'you'? Why not 'us'?" Toph inquired.

"We haven't exactly been here long enough for anyone to know were threats," I stated.

Zarla hummed in agreement before leaning back and staring at the stars. It was clear no one would be sleeping until the adrenaline from the battle wore off.

The ride was quiet for a few moments. Then Aang spoke up.

"So what do you guys do for fun?"

It wasn't an odd question, it was just very sudden. Zarla started talking before I did.

"Read, draw, and write."

"Draw and write what?" Sokka asked from his position on Appa's head.

"Whatever comes to mind." And with that, Zarla closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"So what do you do for fun?" Aang turned his questioned to me.

"I play video games- basically interactive moving pictures. I read. I hang out with friends. I dance sometimes."

"But you guys said you can't dance." Aang was confused.

"I said I _don't _dance, not that I _can't_ dance. Difference," I pointed out.

"But what about Zarla?" Toph asked. She had, apparently, not yet come up with a nickname.

"Ask her that. It's not my habit to go around giving out secrets like candied nuts on winter solstice, especially not when they belong to others." I crossed my arms over my chest and turned away, declaring in my own little way I wouldn't say anything else.

I fell asleep to the motion of the stars and the sound of Frehor's purring.

**A/N: And that's a wrap! As I said before, it's really short, mainly because there's about a total of 7 minutes of screen time for the Gaang. And I got Adam's joke from Avatar: The Abridged Series. Check it out at ! (I don't own those videos. I just like them.)**

**Anyways, the next chapter will be an Author's Note asking for your opinions on my thoughts, some dealing with The Puppet Master and others dealing with this story in the long run.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	11. Zarla and the Moon Spirit

**A/N: And here we are, the actual Chapter 11; **_**The Avatar and the Firelord**_**. As I said, probably going to be short, two chapters maximum, but I'm thinking it's only going to be one.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Zarla, Adam, and Frehor Noches.**

**I apologize if any added scenes have Mike and Bryan's characters OOC.**

Zarla's POV

It was two days after the guy with the tattoo attacked us. I woke up around dawn with Frehor on my chest.

"Alright, I know you're comfortable, but it's hard for me to breathe. Up you go," I whispered. I picked him up and laid him down next to me. He didn't even wake up.

"Lazy bum." Not knowing what else to do, I leaned into a sitting position, grabbing some paper and a pencil. I started writing a story I had thought of about a group of people called "Wanderers". They could control any form of energy, but they were unable to find a home, although some were able to break the curse upon themselves.

"What are you writing?"

The sound of Aang's voice made me jump.

"Sorry," he apologized, noticing my action.

"It's okay, I can usually just hear people coming. And I'm writing a story."

"Can I see?"

"I doubt you'll be able to read it, but go ahead."

Aang looked at the paper, trying to decipher it.

"See what I mean?" I questioned.

"Yeah." He handed the paper back. "How do you know this?"

"I've been able to write for a decade now, Aang. It's just in a different language than you read and write in."

"So can you read our letters?"

"No, unfortunately."

Silence reigned for a few moments after that.

"So, Aang, I'm guessing there's another reason you're talking to me?" I prompted.

"I can't get to know with the people I'm traveling with?" he asked. I just raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, you caught me. Roku says I need to meet him at his island."

"Okay." I shrugged. Aang turned to walk back to his bison. "Oh, and Aang?"

He twisted his torso to face me, confused.

I grinned. "If you want to know something about one of us, ask the person the question is directed to."

"I'll keep that in mind." He grinned back.

True to Aang's word, we arrived on the crescent shaped island a little after noon, guessing by the position of the sun.

"There it is! That's Roku's home," Aang informed.

"But there's nothing there," Katara said confusedly.

We landed shortly afterwards, Toph picking up the conversation as soon as her feet touched the ground.

"Yes, there is." Toph's voice was somber. "An entire village, hundreds of houses. All completely buried in ash."

"Just like Pompeii," Adam casted.

"Just like Pompeii," I agreed. Turning to the rest of the group, I explained what we meant. "Pompeii was a very prosperous city. However, one day, the volcano nearby erupted. The ash buried the city, casting whoever and whatever was unlucky enough to stay to be casted by ash. Most of the living things were already dead by the toxic air the volcano admitted. Archeologists today are digging out some of the sculptures. It's like the city was frozen."

The Gaang bowed their heads in respect for the dead. I bowed my head as well.

We cheered up quickly and had lunch. Aang decided that since Roku was born a firebender, he would try contacting him two hours before sunset. We had plenty of time to kill.

After lunch (which was, once again, stew), Aang appeared to take us up on my previous invitation- asking the appropriate getting-to-know-you-like-a-friend questions to the appropriate people.

"What's your favorite color, Adam?" Aang inquired.

"Blue."

"Zarla?"

"I don't really have a favorite. I like all colors- except pink and yellow. They're far too...happy, I guess. No offense."

"None taken. When's your birthday?"

"Um…May 3rd, so late spring."

"Adam?"

"April 21st, so around the same time as Zarla's."

"What's your favorite season?"

"Winter," Adam spoke.

"Fall, minus the fact that we have to go to school."

By now, the rest of the group had joined in, also asking us questions. It was one of Aang's more personal inquiries that really hit me, though.

"Have you ever been in love?" He seemed hesitant and embarrassed to ask this.

I thought about it for a moment. It felt like everyone was staring at me, though, so I wasn't able to sort it out. I needed to go away for awhile.

"I'm going to go for a walk."

I didn't wait for permission.

Well, I didn't walk much. I've never seen the ocean before, and man is it amazing.

_Have I ever been in love? I mean, I thought I was with Brad…_

_What about that feeling a Jang Hui?_

_Pardon?_

_You heard me. Well, not really heard, but I digress. When you looked at Adam in Jang Hui, you had an odd feeling. What do you think that was?_

_That was love?_

_Yes! Now you're getting it._

_I can't believe it._

_Back to Square 1. Anyway, let's make you believe it, shall we? You know that love is made out of at least three structures: intellectual, emotional, and spiritual, right?_

_Correct. I'd think, you being inside my head, would know this._

_**I**__ do. You might not._

_Hmm. True. Carry on._

_Already, then. First up: intellectual. Can you trust Adam?_

_With my life!_

_Can you talk with him about anything?_

_I can. Well, except this, for right now._

_Okay then. These next two are difficult. Next: spiritual. How'd you feel when you first met Adam?_

_Well, I can remember the instant friendship we had. The memories are foggy._

_Good enough. Now this one's the hardest: emotional. Do you care for Adam?_

_Of course!_

_How deep does that caring go?_

I paused for awhile. I was deep inside my mind right now. I could've stood there for hours, or just a few seconds.

_Extremely deep._

_Okay, then there is the physical aspect of love. You don't really pay too much attention to this one._

_I never have found looks to be accurate pathways to the personality._

_Fair enough. So here we are once again: You love Adam._

_I guess I do._

_Now all you have to do is tell him. _And with that, the voice in my head faded into nothing.

_Like it's going to be that easy._

I saw a glow out of the corner of my eye. Turning to my left, I saw…

"Princess Yue?"

"Hello Zarla. You can just call me Yue." The former princess of the north smiled at me.

"Well then, hello Yue. No offense meant, but why are you here?"

"I am here to explain things. The ocean spirit tells me you are confused. And also, he appreciates the compliment."

"The ocean spirit was in my head!"

"No, he was not. He only heard the compliment from you about him."

"Oh. Anyway, what did you come down to explain?"

"I came to explain why you are here. Do you remember what happens in the end?"

I tried to remember. I tried to bring forth the memories of the series that introduced me to most the lessons about life I had learned.

"No. No I don't."

Yue seemed to expect this. "In the end, we win. But Avatar Aang… although he does get a happy ending, some of the spirits feel he suffered too much. Some wish to give him more bad than good. Others believe to give him balance. And others wish to give him more good than bad."

"So, in essence, I'm here to do whatever they decide," I remarked flatly.

"To an extent. The spirits have already decided. He will receive a good life after he defeats the Fire Lord. What he does to receive it is up to him."

"That doesn't explain why Adam and I are here."

"You're here to remind Aang of what he needs to do."

Yue placed her hand on my forehead and gave me a brief remembering.

A voice I couldn't recognize said "We planned to take on the Fire Lord after the comet came."

Yue took her hand off my forehead.

"Aang must defeat Ozai before the comet comes. I do not know for sure what he is planning, but the world will not be able to have balance if Aang decides to wait until after the comet."

"That explains why I'm here. But why is Adam here?"

"You tell me." The white haired spirit had a glint of mischievousness in her eyes.

"It's because I love him, isn't it?" I sighed.

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?"

"Well, other than the fact that this sounds like some story that a really pathetic teenage from my world wrote, no."

"Hm. Anything else you would like to be explained?"

"Why is Frehor here?"

"Who?"

"My cat, Frehor Noches. We call him Frehor. He came here with us, apparently."

"Oh dear. That certainly wasn't supposed to happen. I will take him back for you."

"Thank you, Yue."

"You are welcome."

"Oh, before you go, Yue," I stopped the spirit before she returned to her place, "thank you for teaching me about sacrifice. You're one of the best characters on this show."

Yue smiled. It was a sad smile, but it had genuine thanks in it. Yue once again placed her hand on my forehead.

"You carry the blessing of the moon spirit, Zarla. Use it well."

Then the princess of the sky returned to her domain.

I walked back to the group. They were all staring at Aang, who was in a horse stance with a smile on his face.

"Do they have bathrooms in the Spirit World?" Katara asked, revolted.

"As a matter of fact, they do not," Sokka stated.

"You would know, Mr. I-Got-Trapped-in-the-Spirit-World-for-24-Hours," I announced, startling everyone except Toph.

"It's still creepy how you know our pasts without us even having to tell you," Toph bluntly pointed out.

"I would say that you'd be insane if you didn't think it was creepy. It's stalkerish on this side of the lollipop too."

Just then, Aang's face contorted and his eyes opened.

"Wow. You wouldn't believe what I just learned." He then proceeded to tell us what Roku had told him- although at a few parts he seemed to blush and talk a little too quickly. He was talking about when Roku talked about Ta Min.

I grinned.

After Aang finished, Katara spoke up.

"You mean, after all that Roku and Sozin had been through… even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that?"

"It's like these people are born bad!" Toph exclaimed.

"No, that's wrong," Aang put in his two cents, "I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all."

"Then what was the point?" Sokka asked.

"Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves that anyone is capable of great good and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance."

"Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?" Toph questioned shyly.

Aang grabbed his earthbending instructor's hand. "I don't see why not."

Katara moved forward and grabbed Toph's other hand. Aang joined hands with Adam who joined hands with me.

"Well, scientifically speaking, there's no way to…"

Sokka was cut off by his sister, who was obviously annoyed.

"Oh Sokka just hold hands!"

Sokka didn't move, but one of his hands quickly moved to hold onto his sister's.

We stood there, facing the sunset, content.

Later, when we were traveling, I looked at Aang.

"Yeah. I'm in love."

**A/N: Took me awhile to get this chapter right.**

**I actually do intend to go somewhere with Zarla's favorite season, one of the two OC's birthdays, and Yue's blessing. No, Zarla will not become a waterbender from Yue's blessing. In my head, that would require the blessing of both the moon and ocean spirit.**

**Special Thanks to: Little airbender (guest). Thanks for reviewing! I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations.**


	12. The Runaway

**A/N: Here we are, **_**The Runaway.**_** This is going to be interesting. And in explanation for the last chapter, Yue took Frehor back because I kept forgetting to write him in. Sorry if you liked him in here!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Zarla and Adam.**

**I apologize if any of Mike and Bryan's characters are OOC in added scenes.**

Zarla's POV

The headache I had told me that Katara's ultimate scam plot had gone horribly wrong.

Let me explain.

_Three Days Before…_

"We're overdue for some training ourselves," I mentioned to Adam.

Aang was training with the rest of the group. Well, more like Katara and Toph, with Sokka throwing in a few surprises here and there.

Did I mention Aang was blindfolded?

Anyway, Katara and Toph threw their respective elements at Aang either dodged their attacks or threw them back. He even managed to throw a few blows of his own.

Then one of Toph's attacks missed Aang and hit Katara, electing a cat fight, complete with insults. But instead of slaps and pulling hair, bending was used.

"Are we taking a break?" Aang asked. He was still blindfolded, and his earthbending sense wasn't as good as Toph's, so he didn't know what exactly was happening.

"Sneak attack!" Sokka shouted, jumped from his hiding place and running towards Aang.

Aang hardly moved. He raised one arm up, forcing up a pillar of earth that Sokka ran into, before pushing his arm back down to return the earth to where it was.

"Sokka, sneak attacks don't work if you yell out loud." Aang's attention was then drawn to a splatter of mud on the ground.

Katara and Toph had continued their bending battle in the mud. They were still throwing insults at each other.

"Uh… guys? I thought we were supposed to be training me," Aang shyly pointed out.

Katara, trying to save what dignity she had, spoke up. "Very well, pupil. I believe we've had enough training for today."

She walked of, presumably to go clean up.

Toph bended the mud off of her. "While Katara cleans up, let's go have some fun!"

Sokka and Aang cheered, but I held back.

"Adam, we have to train as well. You can go with them next time, alright?"

"I didn't want to go," he informed me.

While Sokka, Aang, and Toph went off, Adam and I stood in our fighting stance. We had our guard hands up, fists closed and poised "like talking on a telephone", as my sifu says.

I gestured to Adam, saying he has the first move.

Now I know that Adam explained his fight scene with Aang, but I'm not going to explain mine, simply because I can't. The style we use focuses on sensing energy and shifting it… it's hard to explain, and I really just go with the flow. All I remember is I kicked his butt.

"Can one of you help me please?" Katara interrupted, setting up her cauldron.

"Sure." I walked over to help Katara.

"Can I do anything?" Adam asked.

I looked at Katara.

"No, but thank you," she said sweetly. Adam nodded and walked off.

I ended up cutting up some of the food we had left, putting them in the pot while Katara stirred with her waterbending. We sat in silence while Adam continued practicing. He was doing a form I taught him.

"Roserade," I called out to him, seeing he was stuck on a part. For some reason, that part reminded me of that Pokémon.

"Thank you!" he called out as he continued doing the form.

Suddenly, baskets of food were thrown at our feet.

"Where did you guys get all the money to buy all this stuff?" Katara inquired.

"Toph got us money," Aang stated to explain, picking up an apple and biting into it, "She scammed one of those guys in town who moves the shells around all sneaky-like."

"She used earthbending to win the game. Classic!" Sokka praised as he grabbed some… fruit? Vegetable? I don't know.

"Ah, so she cheated," Katara assessed, turning a pointless glare towards Toph.

"Hey, I only cheated because he was a cheater. What's wrong with that?" Toph asked, also taking a bit of food.

"I'm just saying, this isn't something we should make a habit of doing."

"Why? Because it's fun, and you _hate_ fun?"

"Cut it out! The last thing we need is to fight each other," I exclaimed.

Aang stood up and pushed his headband so that way it revealed his arrow. "I personally make you an Avatar promise that we won't make a habit of doing these scams." He bowed.

The next day, I was questioning how much an Avatar promise was worth.

Adam, Katara, and I stayed at the campsite, keeping it clean, making the meals, and training. Adam and I asked Katara to attack us with her bending as Adam and I tried to subdue her.

Adam and I won, but just barely. It was only because we worked together well and had two people on one side. Which was the only way it was fair. I mean, really, try going up against a master bender with nothing but your fists and feet and try to win. It was only because of some clever (and daringly stupid) moves and a few confusing lines tossed between Adam and I.

Remember how I said to never let Adam get bored? (Well, not remember, seeing as I never said it… but you get the idea.) Never let me get bored at the same time as him. We have a survival plan for the zombie apocalypse, fandom-based insults, regular insults, and some really confusing (to others than us) combat instructions. We decided to kill some time by teaching Katara what they meant, so if we ever said it, she would know what we were planning.

"So, let me get this straight-Nine is 'destroy it, ask questions later', Ten is 'run for your life', Eleven is 'pretty much tell them to screw off before something very bad happens', and the Master is…?" Katara asked.

"Insane genocidal madman that really has to be taken out of the public. So, in short, people like Ozai," Adam explained.

"There are more?" Katara asked, alarmed.

"Remember how we said our country was considered a sleeping giant in the Second World War? That war was cause by a man who wanted to wipe out all but one race. So, yes, Katara, there are more people like Ozai," I explained, "but there are more who want to stop them."

Katara smiled that sort of smile you smile when you're relieved.

Adam and I continued training. We were able to scavenge a few more items from our bags. Odd bits and bobs from all the experiments we used to do at home. We recovered Adam's portable medical kit and the components for my "fireball in a bottle"- glass tubes, water, oil, small metal disks, and some small chunks of sodium.

Now, for those who don't know, sodium is an element in the periodic chart. Its symbol is Na. Table salt is a compound formed by sodium and chloride combining chemically. Table salt's formula is NaCl, meaning it's a compound, or two elements mixed together chemically. Got that?

Anyways, sodium (_not_ table salt, in case that's unclear) reacts _violently_ to water. And by violently, I mean it explodes. So, basically, I destroy this container, the sodium gets wet, causing it to explode, and the oil catches on fire. A fireball in a bottle, as the name suggests.

In Adam's medical kit, there were bandages, antibacterial pads, alcohol swabs, paper towels, a needle and surgical thread (which surprised both of us, however, we weren't complaining), syringes, bottles of medicine, and hot/cold packs.

The medicines ranged from generic pain killers to our own medicines. Ours weren't very potent- the most serious one Adam was working on was a counter to cyanide, I think- they were mostly pain killers that only effected a certain area for numbness. Pretty neat, huh?

Adam and I talked. We talked mostly about the night we left, asking Katara if she had any theories.

"I don't remember getting off the Ferris Wheel," Adam mentioned.

"Neither do I." I frowned.

"Is it possible something happened, like you hit your head and that caused your memory loss?" Katara suggested.

"That's a good idea, but I think my amnesia is a bit too specific. Or maybe you're right, but…" I started off, trying not to offend Katara.

"Explanation in case nothing else makes sense?" she suggested.

Adam and I nodded. Adam jerked up, looking at the hills instead of the fire.

"I remember something, actually," Adam began suddenly, "a song."

Katara looked confused. "A song?"

I was no less confused.

"Yeah. It was… amazing, like everything good in the universe put into song form…" he said.

"That sounds like something someone would say about-" I started, but Adam cut me off.

"Yeah, but that's not real." His eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Is it?"

I knew where he was coming from. This entire place was fiction. Who's to say that his theory isn't? "I don't know, but let's not think about it too much. We're here, and we need to help. So we'll help and figure it out later, all right?" I asked.

Adam and Katara nodded.

The next day happened much the same way, training, talking, and doing chores. And when Sokka, Aang and Toph came back, holding bag of money, the only thing Katara did was wordlessly hand out the bowls of food we had made. We sat around the campfire in a circle, Adam on my left, Katara on his, Aang sitting on Katara's left, Toph next to him, and Sokka between Toph and I.

I made Aang choke with my choice of words. "And exactly how much is an Avatar promise worth?" I used a nonchalant tone, continuing to eat my soup casually, but my eyes were on him.

Aang started hitting on his chest to get the food out his throat.

"Don't do that," Adam admonished, "it'll just get stuck in your throat. Just keep coughing and we won't have to do the Heimlich."

He got puzzled looks from everyone except Aang and me in response to his comment. Aang stopped choking.

"A medical maneuver used to stop people from choking, named after the man who came up with it, as per usual in our world," I explained for Adam.

"Alright, exactly how long has that been going on between you two?" Sokka inquired, sounding just a tad annoyed.

Adam and I looked at each other. "Um… about…" I began.

"Four years or so?" Adam finished.

"Really? I thought it was-"

"No because we began in-"

"Oh yeah. So it was about that long ago."

Our conversation had Aang's, Katara's, and Sokka's head following us like a tennis match. Toph just raised her eyebrows.

"Seriously?" Toph asked.

"Obviously, otherwise it wouldn't happen," I countered.

"No need to get snippy."

"It might sound snippy but it's not. Jeez," I said, dropping my head in my hand. My soup was finished.

"Long day?" Sokka smirked.

"More like mentally exhausting."

"You haven't let it go," Adam pointed out. I realized that, subconsciously, I was trying to figure out how we got here. Sometimes Adam knew me better than I knew myself.

"Yeah. I mean, we could _not_ have just magically appeared out of thin air. I mean, yeah, Yue told me why we came, but how on Raxicoricofallipitorious did we get here!"

"Well, let's leave the mystic hocus pocus for another time. There's work to be done, after all!" Adam grinned.

Realizing what he was getting at, I started grinning as well.

"Brilliant!" I said in my best British accent.

You see, our stuff that we had gotten out of our bags had to be put together. It's really rather fun, once you know how to do it.

"Why are you guys smiling?" Sokka asked.

"Because our work is fun. Want to watch?" I asked, withdrawing the utensils from my bag as Adam did the same.

"Whoa! Where'd you get that?" Aang asked.

I frowned. "To be honest, no idea. They just appeared in our bags."

"That's not weird at all," Sokka said sarcastically.

"We've seen weirder," I instantly replied.

"Like what?" Toph asked.

"A blue police box that's bigger on the inside and travels through all of time and space and is alive comes to mind," Adam said.

All of them gave us strange looks.

"Kidding! Well, sort of. Special effects," I added for their benefit.

All of them did the "oh" thing.

So Adam and I set to work, making sure we did a lot of it on the ground so Toph could "watch".

"Why is the rock going in oil?" Aang asked.

"It's called sodium. And do you want an explosion happening? Because it reacts to water, and so to prevent it from reacting, you have to put it in oil. The metal disk goes above it, like so," I explained, putting the metal disk in carefully, "and then the water goes on top, then another disk, and a stopper at the top so the stuff can't slide around. Ta-da! Fireball in a bottle." I proudly held up the glass tube before slipping it on a chain that I hung around my neck.

"And what are you working on?" Katara inquired Adam.

"Well… burn salve," Adam said, finishing up by adding some chemical I couldn't remember, "I can't exactly dumb it down for you to understand."

"Are you implying that we're stupid?" Sokka asked, offended.

"No, I'm saying that you can't understand 21st century Sol 3 chemicals and their effects. Not many people on Sol 3 can understand it. There really is no way to say this without it sounding offensive, is there?" he asked rhetorically.

Toph raised her eyebrows. Apparently seeing this, Adam raised his in return and asked some really medical question. I know I'm being very specific (note the sarcasm) but I really can't understand a lot of what he's saying when he goes all pharmacist. I know it's probably the same thing for him when I go off on a tangent.

"Better leave that to you then," Katara said.

So Adam finished up and we packed our stuff away. We sat up and chatted with the Gaang for awhile, but then headed to bed.

And then something strange happened.

I had a nightmare.

_Dream Sequence_

I looked around, noticing every little detail. The walls were grey and reflective. I somehow knew that this wasn't normal steel. The room was in disarray, as if a battle had taken place and then moved out. The walls were dirty with soot and rust and another substance I pretended wasn't blood. None of this I was interested in though. I continued looking, and apparently I had found something, as I ran towards a stainless steel table that I couldn't see past well. I noticed something on the ground, though. A little corner of a shield whose owner's identity I didn't know, but had this feeling that I really should.

As I ran around the table, what I saw made me stop dead in my tracks.

It was Adam.

I quickly did all the medical tests he had briefly explained to me to make sure he was alive. He failed every one. He was dead.

I knew who had killed him, somehow. And I now knew the shield's owner.

_Thud thud thud._

The sound of footsteps had me turning my head to see the owners.

My breath caught in my throat.

It was Cybermen.

The reached out and grabbed my shoulder. Instead of dying from being electrocuted, I saw everyone else they had gotten to- Katara, Aang, Toph, Sokka, and even… the Doctor and Donna?

"You will be upgraded," the one who touched my shoulder informed me in its mechanical voice.

Then the images faded. There was a hand in mine.

Who else could it be but Adam?

I faded back into dream world, but this time, the images were of laughter instead of screaming.

**Song of Time (Time Skip!)**

"Oi! Cut it out, you two!" I shouted to Katara and Toph, who were arguing again.

"Don't tell me what to do!" they shouted at me in unison.

"Then could you please take it down a notch? Or five, or ten? Shouting doesn't do any good when we're trying to stay hidden," I sighed, rubbing my temples. A minor headache was building up. "And I'm getting a headache whenever you two argue."

They did quiet down after that. They didn't stop arguing, but at least there was some semblance of sanity.

"Speaking of that third-eyed freak," Sokka said, picking up a bit of Toph and Katara's conversation, "I think I've come up with a name for him. What do you think of the name… Sparky Sparky Boom Man?"

"People settling the colonies were more creative- and they named their colonies after places that already existed. We'll use it, but why don't you start trying to think of another?" I said, trying to repair a little of the large hole I had ripped in Sokka's ego.

Katara and Toph continued where they left off, ending in Toph stomping away and Sokka heading back to town.

Adam and I trained with Aang and Katara, tag teaming, for a few hours. We switched partners a few times- Adam and I vs. them, Katara and I vs. the "A's" (as they named themselves), A-Z (as Adam named Aang and I), then three against one, then four of us against dummies Adam had politely asked Toph to set up earlier that day. All in all, it was a good session, as we learned more about our partners and how they fought.

"You see, that's the thing," I said aloud, thinking.

"What?" the other three asked in unison.

"We don't try to make us all act in unison- we don't force you to be like a waterbender, Aang, or you to be an Airbender, Adam. We don't try to say silver and nitrogen are the same. That's what the Fire Army does- though, I suppose, they can. We take our differences and use them for us, instead of counting them as weaknesses. That's what makes this group so strong- five elements working in harmony. By the way, brilliant use of Nine," I said, addressing Katara. During one of our sparring sessions, Adam and I had built a barrier effective against most of their singular attacks. Katara, getting fed up, had gathered a lot of water and froze it with Aang's help. Together, they sent it crashing through our barrier, effectively knocking us off our feet as well, leading to them winning that round.

"Thanks," she said.

Sokka, who had evidently come back, walked past us with… a messenger hawk.

I seriously think Adam and my facepalms were louder then Toph and Katara's shouting.

"Sokka, tell me you didn't buy a bird," Katara chastised.

"Not just a bird. A messenger bird! Now we can send messages all over the world, even to Gran-Gran!"

"Wow! How does that work?" Aang asked.

"Hm... uh, I never actually thought about that. Hawky: Gran-Gran, South Pole."

"Hawky" shook his head.

"Wait," I said, "you guys have a map, right? Can I see it?"

"Sure," Katara said. Aang had already dug it out and passed it to her, then she passed it to me.

"Can you point to where your village might be?" I asked her.

"Yeah, it be right about here," Sokka pointed, "why?"

I looked at the co-ordinates, then turned to "Hawky".

"Hello Hawky, I'm Zarla. Was South Pole a little too… vague?" I asked him.

The group, which now consisted of Toph, stared at me like I was insane, until "Hawky" nodded.

"Do co-ordinates help, or just the name of a town? Shake for option one, nod for option two."

Hawky nodded.

"Well, then, there you go," I said rolling up the map, "also, seeing how he's a _messenger_ bird, actually having a message to deliver would probably be in your best interest."

"But how'd you do that?"

"Deductive reasoning," I said. Then came that weird feeling again- like there was more to it than that.

Momo and Hawky fighting stopped the group from inquiring further.

Staying true to his promise now, it was Aang, Adam, Katara and I hanging out at camp today. After finishing the chores, we sparred again. I was searching in my bag for something- I forget what it was, but instead of what I wanted, out came a wooden box. It was about the size of one of the slider pencil cases.

Aang, Katara, and Adam, noticing I was taking longer than I should, came and looked at the box.

It was elaborately decorated- roses were carved on sandalwood, painted with golden hues around them, but with a rolling grey background, as if a storm was coming. Carved into the center were these words:

"Todos subió tiene su espinos. Estos son tu." Every rose has its thorns. These are yours. It was that script you see on really fancy invitations, in a brilliant mix of pink and brown and gold.

At the group's prompting, I opened it, revealing a large amount of throwing needles.

"Quite literally," Adam said, referring to the inscription. The needles were, apparently, very strong, for as soon as we were done observing, I threw one at a dummy Toph had repaired, neatly carving a hole through the center. I found it about three inches behind the dummy, and I didn't even throw it that hard, so there must've been something about these needles that was special.

I just stared at the box.

"I mean, I get we're in a World War and all, but are _needles_ really necessary? Why not something a little less… lethal?"

Adam and Aang shrugged their shoulders. Katara (who had left), came back.

"Okay, I have to admit- I'm curious," Aang said. "Where the heck did you guys get all those weird commands?"

"Zelda," Adam started,

"Hunger Games," I said,

"And Doctor Who!" we finished in unison.

"With a lot of others thrown in," Adam tacked on.

"Doctor Who?" Katara questioned.

"Yeah- remember blue police box? Well, she belongs to the Doctor- just the Doctor. It's a television series, the longest one running. Next year marks half a decade of aliens,"

"World domination/destruction plots," Adam said,

"Time and space travel," I continued,

"And running," we concluded.

Noting the odd looks, we proceeded to summarize the show. We were left with two people completely amazed.

"Wow… you guys grew up with that?" Aang asked.

I just nodded. My voice was worn out again. All of then proceeded to take a break in the sparring before jumping right back in until Sokka and Toph came back.

And apparently, while Katara was away, she had rifled through Toph's stuff, according to their argument.

"Guys, please tone it down," I asked. The headache was stronger this time.

"Could you please stop asking that!" Toph said.

"Toph, believe me when I say that I would let you argue to your heart's content- usually- if we didn't have a freaking assassin on our tails," I replied.

"Assassin?"

"Sparky Sparky Boom Man," I clarified.

"Oh."

I never had to tell them to lower their voices again.

The arguing continued, eventually ending with Katara and Toph storming to opposite sides of the camp.

Aang, Sokka, Adam, and I sat around in the center.

"We could send them a note," Sokka started to suggest.

"Problem: Toph is unable to read and write," Adam pointed out, "why don't you just try talking to each one?"

"I thought I was the plan guy!" Sokka complained.

"Yes, but even the best laid plans can go wrong. Don't sweat it Sokka, you're still the best plan guy, it's just that sometimes you miss a few details that others can see. That's why leaders have followers and second-in-commands. To make sure that most details are covered," I explained.

Sokka grinned at the compliment and went off to talk with Toph.

"I think you should talk with Katara, Zar," Aang said.

"Zar?" Adam and I questioned. Only Adam called me Zar.

"Is that okay?" Aang asked.

I chanced a glance at Adam out of the corner of my eye. He seemed okay with sharing that privilege.

"Yeah, but honestly Aang, I think you should leave the nicknames to Toph," I said, grinning to say that I was teasing before heading off.

I sat down next to Katara.

"Are you here to chastise me?" she asked.

"No why would I do that? I made the same mistakes you did when I was your age. Oh, never saying that again. Makes me feel old," I joked.

Katara let out a little smile.

"It's not that I hate Toph, far from it, she's like a little sister to me. But it's just…" Katara trailed off.

"You grew up without your mom and your dad. Toph was lucky enough to have both. You're on exact opposite ends on the scale," I said. It didn't really explain what she felt, but by saying that, it told her I knew what she was thinking, "You know what? Why don't you go take a bath, I'll do dinner tonight. Just relax for a few hours and let me handle things, alright?"

Katara looked at me with gratitude in her eyes before walking away. I joined Adam and Aang back at the little formation we formed, telling them that I was making dinner before proceeding to do so. Adam came around and helped me. We ended up making sandwiches (Sokka and Toph had bought some bread) for everyone, singing "500 Hundred Miles" because why the heck not?

Well, that moment of peace was soon shattered by Katara announcing that she wanted to do a scam with Toph.

And that brings me to the present- my pounding headache and Toph and Katara being gone far longer than they should've been.

"Do you think this scam of theirs should be taking this long?" Aang asked.

"No," Adam and I replied immediately.

"I was thinking the same thing. We'd better check it out." Turning to the animals, he told them "you two behave. Appa's in charge."

We walked away, Adam grabbing some fishing line out f his bag and me grabbing a strong forked stick so we could make a slingshot.

We made it to town. It was empty.

The headache was stronger than ever. I looked up and noticed something shiny. I looked away, pretending as if I hadn't seen anything.

"Aiguo, don't look now, but 10 Sherlock," I said. (10 Sherlock- someone's above us planning to attack, referring to 10's jump in the End of Time and Sherlock's dramatic experience in the Reichenbach Fall.)

Just then, Aang looked up, and grabbing Adam and Sokka, shouted "Watch out!" before throwing them away from the blast. I followed with a leaping dodge of my own.

"It's Sparky Sparky Boom Man!"

"I noticed!" I said back, handing Adam pebbles so he could shoot him.

"I think that name doesn't quite fit!" Sokka said while trying to get away from the assassin.

We all kept dodging SSBM (abbreviation), but sometimes we were too slow. I have a large bruise on my back from where the shockwave sent me into a wall, and my right arm is slightly burnt. Adam's more well off- the reason I have the bruise is because he couldn't dodge a blast in time, so I sent in a convenient wheelbarrow, getting sent backwards into a wall.

SSBM was aiming at me, but Aang, being either stupid or brave but extremely loyal, starting running on the roof next to SSBM. The assassin proceeded to shoot at Aang, missing, but the shockwave sending Aang into the bronze Ozai statue. I tried getting up, but before I could, an ice bolt froze over SSBM's head. Katara was revealed with Toph and Sokka. She ran forward and picked him up, shouting "Aang, get up!"

"Let's get out of here!" Toph said.

"Vamos!" Adam and I said. (We go, is what it means.)

SSBM shattered his icy prison and sent another blast at us, but Toph bent up a rock to take the blast. Adam sent one last pebble, hitting the man in his third eye. He tried shooting another blast, but it backfired on him.

We continued running. "Hey, I got it. The perfect name for that guy! 'Combustion Man'!"

"Good job Sokka. Now let's get out of here before Combustion Man catches us!" Toph replied.

"See? It's fits so well!" Sokka exclaimed.

We ran all the way back to camp. When we got there, we packed up all of our supplies as quickly as we could, destroyed any evidence that we were there, and took off on Appa.

We flew in silence for a few hours until the stars and moon were out.

Sokka stood up first as soon as we landed, saying he was exhausted and asking Hawky if he was too. Adam and I got off next, followed by Aang, allowing Toph and Katara to have a moment.

About a minute later, Hawky flew off.

"Hey, where'd Hawky go?" Sokka asked.

Adam and I laughed, setting up bedrolls under the starry sky. We all went to bed soon afterwards.

Adam's hand was in mine. I was content.

**A/N: FOR THE LOVE OF GALLIFREY, THIS TOOK FOREVER FOR ME TO FINISH AND PUT UP. (Hits head repeatedly on keyboard.) Seriously, sorry it took so dang long for me to put this up. School has kept me busy with homework, but n the bright side, Thanksgiving is coming up, so I might be able to write more! Thank you for all of those who are still reading this, even after Korra Season 1 and A:TLA has ended. It really does mean a lot to me. And I am actually heading somewhere with a lot of the things that don't make sense quite yet. Thank you all again!**

**~Zorua Illusion**

**(P.S.- FiLiAL is now 81 pages and 28,968 words long. This chapter, including A/N's, is 5040 words long.)**


	13. Mistrust and That Urge to Run

**A/N: Ah, the source of all my indecision: the Puppetmaster. I have to say, I'm pretty excited about finally finishing this up. Because after this, it's Nightmares and Daydreams, and then it's the Invasion! I really do hope that I'm going to throw you all for a loop in that one! **

**And, spoilers, it's going to be Zarla's POV for this episode and the next one before switching to Adam again.**

**So, without further ado, "The Puppetmaster!"**

Zarla's POV

I woke up the next morning hardly able to move.

"Ouch," I muttered. I vaguely wondered where I was for a second before remembering.

"Zarla, que el diablos?" Adam demanded. (Zarla, what the hell?)

"What?"I asked.

"Your back," he gestured at a part of skin that was showing, revealing a mottled black and purple bruise.

"Remember when I threw that wagon in front of you? Shockwave hit me, knocked me into a wall."

Adam rolled his eyes fondly. "Seriously Zarla, tell me stuff like this!" he then passed me some of his bruise remedy. I'd be alright in about three days.

We traveled for a few hours until we found and settled into this forest for the day. While the sun was up, Adam and I acted out our favorite scenes from Doctor ho and explained why they're our favorites, and Adam taught them to dance to "500 Miles" after Toph had inquired about it. (I played the song on the pipa I still had.) When the moon rose, Adam and I had the brilliant idea of telling scary stories.

"Children instinctively know about the Weeping Angels- you know the game Stop and Go?" I asked, using another popular name for Red Light Green Light.

"Yeah," was the unanimous reply.

"Training for them. Don't blink," I said, concluding my regaling of the Doctor Who enemy, the Weeping Angels.

Next up was Adam, who talked about the Silence.

"After all, how can you defeat something you don't know exists?"

Adam and I also did the full nursery rhyme-

_Tick tock goes the clock, _

_And what now shall we play?_

_Tick tock goes the clock,_

_Now summer's gone away._

Then was Toph, who told a story about a haunted cave, and no, it was not the Cave of Two Lovers. I built up a fire during this.

Then was Aang, who told a story that the monks had told him when he was younger. It was whispers on the winds, telling people to do terrible things. It was a sort of legend explaining why the Air Monks were so peaceful.

Then it was Sokka, who told the story of a man with a sword for his hand.

Adam poked fun at it, saying "the Hash Slinging Slasher?"

I laughed, since none of our little group got the joke.

Katara passed her turn onto Adam and I. Adam told them about the Cybermen from Doctor Who.

I told them about the Daleks.

"More annoying than scary now- cockroaches of the universes, I nicknamed them. Because every time you think them dead, they keep coming back like a bad rash. Turn 'em to dust, literally send them to Hell, and they will keep coming back," I finished.

Then Sokka took another turn as well.

"Suddenly, they heard something down the hall, in the dark. Ooh… It came into the torchlight. And they knew the blade of Wing-Fun was haunted! Aah-aah!"

Sokka pulled his sword out.

None of us were impressed.

"I have to say, I liked the Weeping Angels more," Aang said.

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink," Toph added.

"No, wait, I've got one. And this is a true Southern Water Tribe Story," Katara spoke.

"Is this one of those 'a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to' stories?" Sokka groaned.

"No. It happened to Mom."

Everyone was hooked.

"One winter, when Mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom realized she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm. So mom and some others  
>went to check on Nini's family. When they got there, no one was home, just a fire flickering in the fireplace. While the men went out to search, Mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice," here, Katara imitated a childlike voice, "'It's so cold, and I can't get warm.' Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue, like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help, but...when everyone came back, Nini was gone."<p>

Sokka had hidden behind a tree. Aang wrapped Momo's ears around him.

Adam and I glanced at each other and shrugged our shoulders.

"Where'd she go?" Adam piped up.

"No one knows. Nini's house stands empty to this day. But sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm."

"Let's hope it's not a Cyberman invasion," I joked.

The group let out a small laugh, then silence. I could almost hear the ominous music in the background.

Toph's hand snapped to the ground.

"Wait. Guys, did you hear that?" she asked urgently.

I got the distinct feeling of wanting to run.

"What, exactly?" I asked. I felt my fingers begin to shake.

"I heard people under the mountain… and they're screaming."

The feeling grew stronger. Aang, Sokka, and Katara had joined together, hugging and shaking a little in fear.

"Pft, nice try," Sokka said, trying to act tough.

"No, I'm serious, I hear something," Toph insisted.

Adam and I looked at each other again. I knew he was having the same feeling I was- that distinct something that made you want to run.

"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories," Katara said uncertainly.

"It just… stopped," Toph said, surprised.

"All right, now I'm getting scared," Aang stated nervously.

Suddenly, a voice none of us recognized spoke up. "Hello, children."

Aang, Katara, Momo, and Sokka screamed out of surprised. They ran around and hugged Toph.

Adam and I blinked, startled.

"Sorry to frighten you," an elderly woman said, "My name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby, why don't you come back for some spiced tea and warm beds?" she invited.

Another instinct kicked in, and that voice in the back of my mind whispered, _Don't trust this woman…_

I noticed for the first time that it had some kind of accent.

"Yes, please," Sokka accepted.

"Just let us get our stuff first," Katara added. She gave a glance at me (since my stuff consisted of my bag that was on my shoulder) and then moved it to where Appa was, conveying a silent message.

I went over and told him where we were going.

"I don't trust her, Appa. Her timing was a little too perfect… and I'm getting a headache," I told him. Then I patted him on the head and told him to stay hidden.

I walked back, claiming I had forgotten that I had already put my stuff away when Hama asked.

Hama smiled and lead us to her inn. She started pouring tea for everyone.

"Thanks for letting us stay here tonight," Katara told Hama while she was pouring tea into Katara's cup, "You have a lovely inn."

"Aren't you sweet?" Hama gushed, "You know, you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."

"What do you mean, disappearing?" Adam, Sokka and I asked.

"When the moon turns full, people walk in, and they don't come out," Hama said ominously, before turning cheerful again, "Who wants more tea?"

No one raised their hand. The Gaang had fearful expressions on their faces, and Adam and I were having another silent conversation. Mistaking that for our way of dealing with fear, she tried to reassure us.

"Don't worry, you'll all be completely safe here. Why don't I show you to your rooms and you can get a good night's rest?"

She lead us upstairs, towards the rooms.

"Sorry, but two of you are going to have to share. I only have 6 rooms, and one of them is mine," she said.

"We will," Adam and I volunteered.

Hama and the Gaang stared at us.

I was very tempted to roll my eyes. "If it makes you feel better, I'll sleep on the floor. Or outside in a tree."

"Oh, no need for you to sleep outside dear. It was just a bit surprising for both a male and female be willing to share a room without being married," Hama assured.

Adam shrugged, not willing to explain.

You see, the thing is, I've started having nightmares, but these are… weird. I can never remember them when I wake up. Adam's started having them as well, and he can't remember them, either. We end up talking to each other more often than not.

We all went to our separate rooms. Adam, despite my insistence, slept on the floor.

"Si nosotros quédate aquí otro la noche eres teniendo el maldita sea cama," I told him. (If we stay here another night, you are taking the damn bed.)

"Final," he replied.

We fell asleep only to wake up five hours later due to nightmares.

"Esto es ridículo," I told Adam.

"Si," he replied.

We talked for awhile, until Hama knocked on our door and shouted through it, "Time to go shopping!"

We got up and used the blanket as a changing screen. I changed into the red shirt that we wore under our school uniforms and the grey school pants. I put on the brown boots we had discovered in our bags the first day.

Adam, it seemed, had a similar idea, except he had worn a black shirt (some sort of gender requirement, perhaps) with the headband/belt tied backwards around his hips.

He looked pretty good, but his hair kept flopping in his face.

I rolled my eyes and moved the annoying strands for him.

"Ta," he said, mocking a British accent.

I grinned. "C'mon, Matt Smith, we're going shopping!" I exclaimed with false enthusiasm.

I hated shopping. Seriously, it's more of a hassle than trying to find pure gold.

We joined the group on the ground floor, and then left.

Adam and I didn't know _anything_ about the foods here, so we offered to carry everything, saving everyone else the backaches.

We had just finished at a meat vendor's shop when Katara spoke up.

"That Mr. Yao seems to have a thing for you. Maybe we should go back and see if he'll give us some free komodo sausages."

You see, we cook everything with meat if we have it, and set aside a portion without it for Aang. And if there's not enough meat for everyone, Adam and I told them to just not put it in our portions, so everything works out.

"You would have me use my feminine charms to take advantage of that poor man?" Hama demanded. Then she grinned. "I think you and I are going to get along swimmingly."

We were walking past a merchant stand when we overheard a customer talking.

"You won't have any ash bananas till next week?" the customer asked.

"Well, I have to send the boy to Hing-Wa Island to get them, and it's a two-day trip," the vendor replied.

"Oh, right. Tomorrow's the full moon."

"Exactly, I can't lose another delivery boy in the woods."

"People disappearing in the woods, weird stuff during full moons… this just reeks of Spirit World shenanigans," Sokka commented.

"I bet if we take a little walk around town, we'll find out what these people did t the environment to make the spirits mad," Aang mentioned.

"And then you can sew up this little mystery, lickety-split, Avatar-style," Sokka finished his train of thought.

"Helping people… that's what I do." Aang grinned.

We caught up with Hama and Katara.

"Why don't you all take those things back to the inn? I just have to run a couple more errands. I'll be back in a little while," Hama told us.

"This is a mysterious little town you've got here," Sokka said.

"Mysterious town for mysterious children," Hama replied cryptically.

She walked away, leaving us to find the inn on our own.

We set the stuff down on the table. Adam and I headed up to our room and took a nap.

I made Adam take the bed.

I woke up to Katara shaking my shoulder.

"Dinner's ready. Did you two get enough sleep?" she asked.

"No," I replied.

"Can you get Adam up? I've tried, but…"

"He sleeps like a log. You might want to cover your ears," I told her.

She followed my advice. I did a taxi whistle and Adam woke up.

"Dinner's ready," I told him.

Katara left with us still wiping sleep from our eyes. We followed her down shortly.

"Did you two get enough rest?" Hama asked when we saw her.

"Yeah," I replied, taking a seat, "Thank you for doing this." Whether I trusted her or not, it was still awful nice of her to give us a place to sleep and cook food for us.

"You're welcome."

During dinner, we found out Hama was a waterbender when she bended the five-flavor soup into our bowls. We also found out she was imprisoned, and she thought she was the last Southern Waterbender. She offered to teach Katara, who leaped at the chance.

After dinner, everyone started heading for bed except Adam, Hama, and I.

"Go to bed, Hama, Aiguo and I will do the dishes," I insisted.

"Oh, but it will be much easier for me," she tried to push us towards the stairs.

"Hama, you're tired, I can see it in your eyes. Aiguo and I, we're young, we can bounce back, and we had a nap today. We'll take care of the cleaning," I told her.

"Thank you," she said, relenting, "there's a sink through that door, and a drying rack nearby."

She headed up the stairs to her room.

Adam and I spent an hour doing the dishes before heading back to bed, where he made me take the bed again.

We fell asleep for three hours before being woken up by nightmares.

We didn't talk, just moved to glance out at the stars.

The next morning brought explorations done by Sokka, Adam, Aang, Toph, and I since Katara and Hama were at a Waterbending session.

"This has gotta be the nicest natural setting in the Fire Nation," Aang declared, "I don't see anything that would make a spirit mad around here."

"Maybe the moon spirit just turned mean," Toph replied.

Sokka was getting upset at that comment, so I cut in.

"Oh, God help us then."

"Why?" Aang asked.

"Because that'll be the day the Doctor forgets Rose Tyler."

They knew what I was saying now, so they nodded. Noting a passerby, Aang went and asked him,

"Excuse me, sir. Can you tell us anything about the spirit that's been stealing people?"

"Only one man saw it and lived, and that's Old Man Ding."

"Where does Old Man Ding live?" Toph inquired.

It took us awhile to find the house, even with the instructions left to us by the passerby. We found Old Man Ding hammering wood over his windows.

"Old Man Ding!" Aang shouted.

Startled, the man hit the hammer against his thumb.

"Eeh, yeow! Ah, dang blame it! What? Can't you see I'm busy? Got a full moon rising. And why does everyone call me that? I'm not that old!" He crouched down to lift up a board, but failed. Adam and Aang went up to help him.

"Well, I'm young at heart," he continued. I took the hammer and nails, replying,

"What's the point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?"

"She gets it! Wise lass. Not ready to get snapped up by some moon monster yet, at least," he continued.

"We wanted to talk to you about that," Sokka said.

"Did you get a good look at the spirit that took you?" Aang asked.

"Didn't see no spirit. Just felt something come over me, like I was possessed. Forced me to start walking toward the mountain."Ding pointed towards the mountain. "I tried to fight it, but I couldn't control my own limbs.It just about had me into a cave up there. And I looked up at the moon, for what I thought would be my last glimpse of light. But then, the sun started to rise. And I got control of myself again! I just high-tailed it away from that mountain as quick as I could!"

"Why would a spirit want to take people to the mountain?" Sokka mused.

"Unless it wasn't a spirit…" I muttered.

"Oh no!" Toph exclaimed, startling the lot of us, "I _did_ hear people screaming under the mountain. The missing villagers must still be there."

We all look towards the mountain.

"The strange thing is, I didn't hear them. I felt something, that urge you get to run," I told them.

"Same," Adam added.

The feeling came up again.

I grinned and grabbed Adam's hand.

Talking to the entire group, I asked, "Shall we?"

We started running.

**A/N: WHAT. I finished this in… what, three days? Four, five? I don't know. But, anyways, Happy Thanksgiving!**


	14. The Puppetmaster

**A/N:WHOO. Once I get this done, it's smooth sailing. Thank you to all of those who have reviewed and given me advice for this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except Zarla and Adam.**

**Without further ado, the story!**

Zarla's POV

"I can hear them! They're this way!" Toph exclaimed, leading our group.

We stopped running about two minutes later at the entrance of a cave.

"This is the place," Toph stated.

"I can't see anything down there," Sokka said. Toph grabbed Sokka's hand.

"That's why you have me. Let's go."

We all leapt into the awaiting darkness. We eventually came to a door with two torches nearby. Toph punched the door with both hands, knocking it off its hinges. Aang and Sokka grabbed the torches, lighting their way.

The light also lit up the dozens of villagers chained to the walls.

"We're saved!" one man cried.

I grabbed a bobby pin from off my bag and started picking the locks. Toph started picking them with her meteor bracelet.

"I didn't know that spirits made prisons like this," Aang commented.

"They don't," I retorted darkly, "Who brought you here?"

"A witch," another man replied.

"What do you mean?" Adam asked.

"She seems like a normal old woman, but she controls people like some dark puppet master."

"Hama!" Sokka and I exclaimed.

"Yes, the innkeeper."

"I knew there was something creepy about her," Sokka stated smugly.

"We have to stop her!" Aang exclaimed.

A headache roared in my head. A sense of worry overcame me.

"Quickly, too. Katara's in trouble!" I informed.

Aang paled, as did Sokka.

"You guys go, I'll get this," Toph said.

"Adam, catch," I told him, tossing the bobby pin. "You remember what I taught you?"

"Yeah!" he replied, not turning from where he had already started on a villager's cuffs.

Sokka handed his torch to the prisoner I freed before running out with Aang, who had put his torch on the wall. We ran full force to where heard fighting. The dead trees and grass also helped. We ran up and got into our stance.

"We know what you've been doing Hama!" Sokka shouted.

"Give up, you're outnumbered!" Aang demanded.

"No, you've outnumbered yourselves!" Hama cackled, raising her arms. Next to me, Aang and Sokka stiffened. I had this weird passing, like my limbs were going to try to do something I didn't want them to, but it passed. I heard Yue's voice in my head.

"_You bear the blessing of the moon spirit Zarla. Use it well."_

The full memory of Hama's deeds came back to me in a rush.

This all happened in a split second. Hama moved her arms, expecting three of us to attack Katara.

I think the tackle surprised her.

She quickly knocked me off with water, slamming me into a tree, causing my already bruised back to ache again. While I was dazed, she turned back to Sokka and Aang.

I was vaguely aware of conversations.

"No!" Katara shouted, bringing me to awareness.

I realized Katara was bloodbending Hama.

The sight of her face made a surge of rage rise out of me. I rose to my feet. Taking a needle out of the pouch I had put them in, I sent it flying towards Hama. Then another, then another. Soon, Hama was attached to the tree.

I gave her one cold, hard glare, trying to impersonate the Doctor's Oncoming Storm glare.

Judging by her trembling, I think I did a good job.

Toph, Adam, and the villagers then arrived, with the villagers using the chains Hama had used n them to bind Hama.

"You're going to be locked away forever," a former prisoner stated. Two more started to lead Hama away.

"My work is done." She turned towards Katara. "Congratulations Katara, You're a bloodbender," she grinned, and then started laughing at Katara's tears.

"Wait," I told the villagers. I grabbed Sokka's sword from where he had dropped it, and before anyone could stop me, marched straight up to Hama and placed it right over her heart.

"It would be so… very… simple," I began, accenting the last three words, "to shove this through your heart. Who would stop me? But I won't," I tossed the sword away, "and do you want to know why?"

"Because you're a coward," Hama sneered.

"Exactly!" I grinned, confusing her, "because if it's a choice between coward and killer, I'd go with coward every time. Hama, you're probably worse than the Fire Lord," she gasped, "but you want to know what? I'm going to make you think about this day for the rest of your life with just one word."

"Even though you are extremely powerful, I doubt even you could accomplish that," Hama said.

"You're right," I started, and she grinned, thinking she had me beat. My next sentence wiped that grin from her face. "Just three: I forgive you." Motioning to one of the villagers, they began taking a now silent Hama away.

"The founder of Bloodbending," I heard Adam mutter as I strode back, "I had forgotten."

No one else heard. Katara was still sobbing, her brother and the last Airbender hugging her. I joined in from the front.

"Come on, Katara, I think I have just the thing to cheer you up," I said.

"How can I cheer up!?" she demanded, "I'm a monster!"

"No, you aren't," Aang and I stated at the same time. Seeing he was on the same brain wave I was, I gestured for him to continue while I dug out a piece of chocolate from my bag.

Aang finished speaking and Katara stopped crying. I handed her a piece of chocolate.

Adam spoke first. "Let's get away from here."

We all agreed. We went and found Appa and took off, trying to get as far away from the nightmare village as possible, all of us falling asleep in the saddle, only for four of us to wake hours later from nightmares.

**A/N: What can I say, I was inspired. Next time, "Nightmares and Daydreams", my and my sister's favorite episode!**


	15. Nightmares and Birthdays

**A/N:…. Don't have anything to say, really.**

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING. Except Zarla and Adam.**

Zarla's POV

We traveled for about three days. Katara was happier now, thanks to a _lot_ of group effort on Days One and Two. At the end of day two, I told her Adam's birthday was coming up in two days and asked her if she could help me with setting something up.

She agreed while grinning.

We landed at nightfall on the third day. Sokka checked the map.

"This is it, the official rendezvous point for the invasion force," he announced.

The island was barren of anything except plant life and some koala sheep.

"How'd you pick this place?" Toph asked.

"Before we split up, my dad and I found this island on the map," Sokka explained, "It's uninhabited and the harbor surrounded by cliffs seemed like the perfect secluded place."

"Nice choice Sokka!" Katara complimented, "And we're here four days ahead of schedule."

"Wait, four days!?" Aang spazzed, "The invasions in four days!?"

"Whatever," Sokka yawned, "that's like, four days from now. Let's just calm down and…"

Sokka fell asleep in the middle of his sentence, falling onto his bedroll.

"Sokka's got the right idea, Aang," Katara said, "We're here, we're ready, the best thing we can do now is get plenty of rest." She lay down on her bed roll, Toph joining her on her own section of the ground. Adam followed suit shortly. I hung back and turned Aang to face me.

"And if you have problem's sleeping, well, I'll probably be up anyways. Just make sure I'm awake first, yeah?" I asked.

Aang seemed to relax a little bit before nodding.

Still, when I heard twigs breaking and rustling leaves and wake up to find Aang kicking a bush, I don't think my words got to him.

"Oh, for the love of Darkrai…" I muttered before getting up.

I think I startled Aang, seeing as he jumped (literally) ten feet in the air when I spoke up. "Aang, it is literally 1:15 in the a.m. What in the Seven freezing hells are you doing up?"

"I've got to train!" he insisted.

"Oh boy. Aang, sit." Seeing the look he was giving me, I gave one in return.

I think a half-asleep and little bit ticked Zarla scared him.

Aang and I sat around the remains of the fire.

"Nightmare?" I asked.

"It's stupid," he replied.

"Is it? I get nightmares. Adam gets nightmares, too, but if you tell him it was me who told you, I'll deny it. I get nightmares. Everyone gets nightmares, Aang. It's the mind's way of dealing with stress. I told you- I am _right over there_. I will not get mad if you wake me up because you had a nightmare. But, since I have a feeling neither of us are going to sleep anytime soon…"

I had Katara rustling.

"Want to help?" I asked, grinning.

"With what?" Aang inquired.

"Tomorrow's Adam's birthday- by our reckoning, at least. Katara and I came up with the idea of throwing him a small birthday party, she's getting up now to help," I explained.

Now, I've seen a lot of things, but I don't think I've ever seen an actual ear-to-ear grin until Aang smiled just now.

"I'm in!" he agreed, "What are we doing?"

Katara came over and joined us, shooting a questioning glance at Aang.

"Couldn't sleep," he explained.

"He's helping. Alright so, here's what we're going to do," I started, and then explained my plan with a few modifications from Katara and Aang.

"So, are we good to go?" I asked.

"Let's do it!" Aang and Katara said together.

"Allons-y!" I couldn't help but add.

The celebration preparations went smoothly- everything was gathered and set up.

Now all we had to do was wait for everyone to wake up.

**A/N: Sorry guys, Adam's birthday will be next chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	16. Adam's Birthday

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Zarla and Adam.**

**A/N: Really, Nightmares and Daydreams is one of my favorite episodes because of the Appa/Momo hallucination, so no way am I getting rid of that!**

**Also, if you notice a letter missing (specifically an "o" or "w") it's because my keyboard sucks, but it's either this or write it on my school laptop. (Pass, thank you.) So apologizes about that.**

**And all these little hints that don't make sense- they will… in the final chapter of FiLiAL.**

**More news to come about the future of the story after the Day of Black Sun I and II.**

**On with the story! (And sorry about the long A/N!)**

Zarla's POV

"Why don't you two sleep? I'll wake you up when everyone else is stirring," Katara told Aang and me.

Aang looked a bit nervous, but I spoke up before he could protest. "Right…over…there. And Katara's awake, too. At least try to sleep, Aang."

He nodded, lying down on the ground.

"Ay, para bien de Pete, tomas mi saco de dormir." (Literally: Oh, Pete's sake, take my bedroll.)

He gave me a confused glance before I shoved the fabric in his hands.

"Take the freaking bedroll and _sleep,_ Aang," I told him, my tiredness seeping through and making me impatient.

He backed off, setting the roll down and laying on top of it.

I fell asleep on the ground soon afterwards.

**Song of Time**

I woke up t Katara shaking my shoulder.

"Thanks," I told her, getting up.

Aang, Katara, and I moved to where I had written in the dirt "Happy 17th, Adam!"

Underneath, Katara had written it in their language.

Overall, the plan was really simple- wish Adam a happy birthday, make something similar to his favorite meal (fortunately, we had the resources to make it), and my personal task was give him a gift.

Sokka and Toph woke up five minutes before Adam, allowing us to fill them in on the details of our plan, as they had heard me mention it to Katara when we were on Appa.

Right when Adam woke up, he was greeted by a chorus of five voices shouting "Happy Birthday Adam!" at the top of their lungs.

"It's my birthday?" he inquired, still half asleep.

"Assuming time's the same, yeah," I replied.

"Wow. Thanks, guys." He smiled.

I lead them through the "Happy Birthday" song- turns out; all of them had pretty decent singing voices. I purposefully sang off-key.

"Is that tradition or accidental?" Toph asked.

"I think it was an accident made into tradition," Adam speculated.

We had prepared fish 'n chips for the meal of the day.

"You know, normally I'd ask how you did this Zarla, but I really don't want a chemistry rant right now," Adam joked.

I stuck my tongue out in retaliation, which made the whole group laugh.

After we ate, we gave Adam the presents we got for him. From Toph and Sokka, he got money from when they were scamming. From Katara, he got the offer of chi lessons. And from Aang, he got a carved wooden… something. It was some animal found here, I can't remember which it was.

"Alright, from me, you get one dare," I said.

You see, I have this aversion to dares. People say I'm boring when we play Truth or Dare because I always go with truth. So for me to give Adam one dare was bound to be a nightmare for me, but hilarious for him.

Adam smiled. "I dare you to only speak in Doctor Who quotes when preparing," he spoke.

We tried to keep the day free of mention of the invasion for Aang's sake.

"Oh, that'll be fun," I said.

After that, we played games. Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Toph taught games that they knew, and Adam and I taught games that we knew.

Overall, it was a really exciting day by the time we tucked in.

Apparently, Aang was now thinking about the invasion again, as he was saying over-extended goodnights until Toph shouted "Go to sleep already!"

Half asleep, I grabbed Adam's hand and said "Feliz Cumpleanos."

In response, his hand tightened around mine.

**A/N: I'm not really all that happy with this chapter, but se la vi. Anyways, things will start picking up next chapter, I hope, so see you then.**


	17. Nightmares Are Real

**A/N: Alright, back to the plot! Hopefully, this story arc will be finished up in this chapter or the next one.**

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING but Zarla and Adam.

Zarla's POV

I had another one of those nightmares I couldn't remember. I woke up and gazed at the stars.

_Que los diablos? (What the hell?) Why can't I remember?_

My musings were interrupted by the sound of rustling. Apparently, Katara's slumber was interrupted as well, seeing as she got up and headed towards the noise. From the faint whispers, I gathered that it was Aang training again. Two pairs of footsteps came back to camp and only soft breathing was heard.

I fell back into the realm where nightmares and dreams rested, forgetting everything I saw as soon as it faded away.

"Sokka get up! I need to know what day it is!" Aang's hysteric voice shouted.

"What! Who's talking?" _Thud._

"Relax, it's still two days before the invasion," Toph's rational voice spoke.

"Zarla, you've got to get up and drill your rock climbing exercises!" He tugged on my arms and my legs.

I really don't think he was expecting me to punch him.

"Yeah, learned that the hard way- don't mess with Zarla until five minutes after she's woken up," Adam laughed.

"Now you tell me," Aang muttered.

"Why the heckle do I have to climb a cliff?" I asked.

"In one of my dreams, you were running from Fire Nation soldiers, trying to climb this cliff, but you were too slow and they got you," Aang fretted.

"Aang, there's one thing you need to know. Nightmares are real," I said, getting up. Aang's eyes widened in horror, but I continued before he could say anything. "And then there's the thing nightmares have nightmares about."

"What?"

I smirked but didn't answer. "Alright, do you want me to climb this cliff to put you at ease?"

Aang nodded.

I stood up and started climbing the cliff, making it up in about five minutes before shouting down to Aang "Made it!"

Aang looked up at me.

Gathering what he meant, I came back down and told him, "Of all things I lost, I miss my mind the most."

We gathered around Aang and pushed him towards the campfire circle.

"It's like every time I think about how stressed I am, I just end up more stressed." Aang started pacing.

I saw Sokka opening his mouth. I quickly slapped my hand over it and said "Whatever you're about to say, don't say it, as it probably won't help."

We looked at Aang, who was jittering.

"You know what? I've got just the thing you need. Prepare to be de-stress-ified," Katara grinned, looping her arm around Aang's neck and leading him away.

Adam and I looked at each other and shrugged.

About half an hour later, Katara came back with a panting Aang.

"I think his stress is the type he needs to talk out," Katara mentioned to us.

"Wang Fire strikes again!" Sokka said, putting on his faking beard.

"No offense Sokka, but you aren't exactly Mr. Touchy- Feely. Why don't I take this one?" I offered.

Sokka nodded, conceding the point, but leaving on his beard.

"C'mon Aang." I lead the distressed airbender from camp.

"Okay, it would be really rather stupid to ask what's bothering you, so I'm going to ask a different question. _Why_ is it bothering you?" I asked him gently.

Aang flopped back onto the grass, staring up at the sky. His head rested on a resting Koala Sheep, as I was informed they were called.

"He's the baddest man on the planet, and I have to defeat him to save the world."

"Worst, not baddest. But why does that bother you so much?"

"It's just… everyone's expecting me to kill him. I don't think I can."

"Because you don't want to give up your morals."

"I don't even eat meat! How am I supposed to kill a living, breathing person?" Aang demanded, sitting up.

"I don't have an answer."

"I know, I know, it's just…" Aang calmed down again, leaning back against the Koala Sheep.

"You wish you could find another way," I finished for him, "You grew up your whole life thinking one thing, then, suddenly, your world gets turned upside down, you realize most of your friends are gone, and then people tell you and expect you to go against your way of life for the world."

"That sums it up nicely, I think," Aang said.

"I try."

"I just wish you didn't have to," Aang lamented.

I shrugged. "Sometimes things happen, and we either call them miracles or disasters, depending on our views. I don't have an answer for you Aang."

"I don't think I was expecting one. Thanks though." Aang's shoulders had gone up to his ears with tension.

"Try screaming into a pillow?" I joked half-heartedly. I was surprised when he followed through, screaming into a nearby Koala Sheep before looking at me and shaking his head.

Next up was Toph's turn. Seeing as how Aang was vibrated off of the small Earth pillars and ran away after she found a porcupine, I don't think it worked very well.

Next up was Adam's turn. Well, it should've been, but he simply shrugged and said "I study the body, not the mind," and then proceeded to crack several extremely corny jokes,, such as "what goes bang thud bang thud bang thud bang thud bang thud bang thud bang thud bang thud bang thud bang thus bang thud bang thud bang thud?" (The answer, by the way, is a Time Lord committing suicide, because a Time Lord has 13 lives, and there are 13 "bang thud"'s. Kind of… inappropriate, I guess would be the best word, but a tad funny none the less.) No one laughed.

Sokka had come up with another plan- sparring. He and Aang sparred for about two hours, increasing Sokka's skills against a bender but making Aang more nervous by the second.

"Thanks for everything guys," Aang told us when we were all heading to sleep.

"So do you feel less stressed? Ready for a good night's sleep?" Katara inquired with a smile on her face.

"Uh.. I kinda think I sorta might…. Slightly feel a little better… maybe…." Aang answered.

"Then our work here is done," Sokka declared, heading off to his mat. Everyone else followed suit except Adam and I.

"Okay, now that you're done lying to us, care to tell us the truth?" Adam and I demanded in unison.

"It's still kind of freaky how you guys do that," Aang mentioned.

"Still avoiding the question," I stated flatly.

"You caught me lying," Aang pointed out.

"Doesn't mean we can read your mind," Adam countered.

Again, there was that little niggling at the back of my mind, like there as something important about that statement. Putting it down to familiarity, I ignored it.

"Like Appa decided it would be a great idea to use my head as a place to jump," Aang was talking to Adam. Oops. Guess I zoned out a bit.

"Yep, that settles it, Aang. You're sleep deprived, and extremely stressed. Why you asked me to do a clinical diagnosis, I'll never know. People can tell just by looking at you."

"So how long do I have to live, Doc?" Aang joked. What was up with all the morbid cracks at humor today?

"A long while, if you actually sleep. Here," Adam grabbed a pillow from… hammerspace, I think.

"Thanks." Aang went to sleep soon after, Adam following, leaving me to stare up at the stars for another two hours before exhaustion pulled me under sleep's spell.

Well, that is, until Aang screaming woke me up.

I got up quickly, asking "What's wrong?" in the general directing of the screaming. My statement was echoed by Katara.

"It's the nightmares. They just get worse and worse," Aang explained.

"Looks like it's time for," Sokka put on his beard again, "another therapy session."

"No, that won't help, nothing helps!" Aang contended. "There's only one thing I can do. I'm going to stay awake straight through to the invasion." Aang twitched.

"Hey Aang, you done signing your will yet?" I drawled. Normally, I'd be a bit more sensitive, but I woke up after two hours from screaming. Sue me, but don't, because I really don't want to deal with another lawsuit.

Aang just gave me a confused glance.

"Charging in there like this is more likely to kill you than to help you," Adam elaborated.

"Don't you have something that could help me?" Aang asked.

"With staying asleep, yes, but there's a reason I'm not giving it to you. Actually, two. First is, I have most of the ingredients, not all. Second is that it's a sleeping pill, not a nightmare pill. The most it will do is trap you in your nightmares," Adam explained.

"Well, there goes that plan," Aang muttered.

I placed my hand on his shoulder, then turned and lay back down on the ground, tossing a crumpled bedroll flying at Aang's face.

"Right. Here," Adam and I said, pointing at our respective spots and attempting to fall asleep again.

**A/N: Ta-da! Okay, now that I actually have a plan for the rest of this, this will be a lot easier. Apologies about inconsistent updating, but school. And also, sorry for any spelling mistakes. My laptop's keyboard sucks, but I'd rather use my personal laptop rather than my school laptop to write this. Anyway, everything's sorted, just need to write it all down. I have a rather complex plan in my head and I'm really going to enjoy finally being able to put it into action!**

**Also, in case I don't update between now and then,**

**¡Feliz Dia del Mal Lobo! ****(December 21****st****, 2012)**

**Happy Holidays Everybody! **


	18. Nightmares Smightmares

**Okay, this will hopefully end this arc of "Nightmares and Daydreams". Then, I get to watch a crapload of Doctor Who so I can figure out what quotes Zarla will get to use. So, I'm gonna have a fun time with that.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT ZARLA AND ADAM. Seriously, if I owned Avatar, a lot of the plot holes probably wouldn't exist, like the one being addressed in this story. I also don't own Doctor Who (because if I did, Rose and 10 would gotten together) or any other fandoms mentioned in this story.**

Zarla's POV

So, apparently, Aang staying up for 24 hours is pretty much the same effect as Sokka drinking cactus juice. Katara said she found him and he claimed he was living underwater. (Later on, I'd remember what he had really daydreamed about and nearly get stew up my nose.) Sokka told me he had gotten knocked over by a blast of wind that was meant for a target about 20 feet away from him. He also complained a bit about being interrupted in making Appa's armor.

"If you're complaining about being interrupted, why are you talking to me instead of working on it?" I asked him.

Sokka shrugged and said he needed to ask Toph for some help in shaping the metal.

Later on, we found him talking with Momo in "lemur". Not really all that unusual to Adam and I- we meowed back to Frehor every time he meowed at us. (He doesn't really meow all that often, but when he does, it's adorably high pitched.)

However, Katara, Sokka, and Toph were more concerned about it.

"Aang," Katara began, making him interrupt his conversation, "We're all getting a little worried about you."

"You've been awake too long," Sokka concurred.

"And you're acting downright weird," Toph added.

"Uhh… I appreciate what you guys are saying. But the stress and the nightmares, they were too much. Staying awake is the best way for me to deal with it," Aang voiced his opinion.

"Obviously," I muttered as we got several disjointed comments. Sokka was grabbed by Aang and when he asked what to do, Aang replied "That!" and pointed to… Appa and Momo, who were staring at each other.

"I just need to jump in a cold waterfall! Ahhhh!" Aang screamed as he ran away.

All five of us looked at each other.

"We have got to do something," we all said together.

We all put our heads down in thought.

"Wait, did you guys notice he slept better when I gave him a pillow?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, he did!" Toph exclaimed.

"I've got it! Here's what we're going to do," Sokka announced, then told us his plan.

We all grinned, knowing it would work.

**Song of Time!**

"Oh look, another hallucination. An imaginary bed, made out of clouds," Aang said to nothing in particular. He poked at it and laid his head on it.

"Hey!" Toph shouted from our standing point behind him. "It's real! We spent hours working on it."

"And if it was made out of clouds, it would be called fog," I had to throw in.

"We made it for you," Sokka charged in, ignoring what I said.

"Look, you guys keep telling me I need to sleep, but I can't, the invasion's tomorrow…" Aang trailed off before Adam cut in.

"Alright Aang, listen. You are more likely making yourself _worse_ with this 'I'm not sleeping' crud. You _will_ get injured tomorrow if you don't go to sleep. If you get sleep now, you'll be fine."

"But-"

This time, I cut him off. "Aang, you have been preparing for this for how long? _You'll be fine._ You just have to get some sleep. Take it from the medic and the patient."

"I've seen your progress," Katara backed us up, grabbing Aang's shoulder, "You're smart, brave, and strong enough."

"You really think so?" Aang asked Katara.

"We all do. You can do this. You're ready," Sokka smiled.

"You're the man, Twinkle Toes," Toph proclaimed, pointing at Aang.

"Thanks guys." Aang let out a huge yawn and got onto the bed with Katara's help. "You know what? I think I am ready." And then Aang slipped into the first sleep he had in days. The group joined him in sleeping a few minutes later.

I had a sour taste in my mouth. I couldn't help but feeling guilty- as if I had lied without knowing it.

The next day would explain why. It would also end up being the worst day of my life.

**A/N: Dun dun dun! ****That concludes "Nightmares and Daydreams!" In explanation, Zarla got her memories back during dinner that night. Aang had skipped it, and Adam was told about it later. And a cliffhanger! I'm not so sure if it's a good one or if it's just… eh.**


	19. The Invasion Begins

**A/N: FINALLY! THE INVASION! I'm so excited- this is where everything changes! Time can be rewritten, after all! So, we have Zarla and Adam in the invasion force. Let's find out how the others react to two complete strangers.**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT ZARLA AND ADAM. MOVING ON.**

Zarla's POV

Katara was handing Sokka a glass of tea when Aang jumped up over the hillside, saying "Top of the morning, Momo!"

"Sounds like you slept well," Katara commented. She was dressed in her old kimono again, instead of her Fire Nation gear. Toph was in her Earth Kingdom dress, and Sokka was in a warrior's outfit from the South Pole. I wore the red t-shirt (I washed it the day before) and the khaki shorts that were in my bag, completing the look with black tennis shoes (once again, found in the bag). Adam was wearing his black shirt (which I washed, and before you get any dirty thoughts, I changed into my 1-Up Life t-shirt and he changed into his How to Keep a Stupid Person Busy shirt while I did this, thank you very much.) and his denim shorts. His look was completed with blue tennis shoes, which were found in his bag.

Also in my bag, I found a rose sculpture. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but I knew I should keep it and tucked it into my internal pocket anyway.

During this thought process, I had apparently missed a conversation between Toph and Aang, as I heard "something about space."

"Raxi-" I began, remembering I could only speak in Doctor Who quotes.

"Coricofallipitorious," Adam played along.

"Raxicori."

"Cofallipitorious."

"Raxicoricofallipitorious!"

"That's it!" Adam laughed.

Again, I had missed a comment from Katara.

"That is the invasion!" Sokka exclaimed, looking out at a foggy point on the horizon.

Five boats with blue sails had appeared out of the fog. Aang and Toph went down to earthbend docks. Off of one of the ships came a figure I recognized. It was Katara and Sokka's dad, Hakoda.

"You made it Dad!" Katara exclaimed, embracing him.

"Were you able to locate everyone I told you to find?" Sokka inquired, looking brilliantly happy to see his dad again.

"I did. But I'm a little worried Sokka. Some of these men aren't' exactly the warrior type." Hakoda looked at two of the swamp warriors, who were having a conversation about a rock.

"Is it just me, or are those fellas a little loose in the leaf head?" Hakoda asked.

"I just wish they would wear pants," Bato replied.

"Pants are an illusion, and so is death," the swamp warrior who controlled vines said.

Sokka smiled widely, I tilted my head in agreement, and Adam, Katara, Hakoda, and Bato just looked worried.

Hakoda then seemed to notice Adam and me.

"Made some new friends?" he inquired.

"Yeah, that's Zarla and he's Adam," Sokka answered.

"Hello!" I told him.

"Hi," Adam responded.

Hakoda raised his eyebrows but shook our hands. Katara had head off to say hello to other people, and Sokka followed after he introduced us.

Suddenly, a large boom was heard, and I went rushing off to see what had caused it.

"Yes," I saw the Mechanist saying to Sokka, "but unfortunately, the incendiary capabilities proved to be a failure."

"I prefer to use sodium," I shrugged, not quoting Doctor Who. Adam wasn't there to tell me off anyway.

"Salt?" the Mechanist asked me.

"This is our friend, Zarla," Sokka introduced, "she's a…"

"Chemist," I filled in for him. I showed the Mechanist my sodium in a tube.

"It reacts with water and explodes," I told him, tucking it back under my shirt.

"Fascinating. You'll have to tell me more about what you know."

"I'd be glad to, but right now I have to go back to a dare. I'll tell you all about it on the way to the gates, deal?"

"Deal," the Mechanist agreed.

Sokka and the Mechanist then talked about plans and submarines while Teo, the Duke, and Pipsqueak got off the ship. Aang got a present from Teo- a new glider staff, with a snack compartment.

"They think, 'eh, it's just a thing!'" I laughed as Aang watched the Mechanist eat the food that came out.

Before long, Sokka was going up to a podium to make his speech. He wasn't the best at it because of his cold feet. Let's just say when he said the beginning; he started when he and Katara found Aang. His dad took over and rallied the troops. Sokka looked down while everyone else cheered. I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled, getting a weak grin in response.

Later, he went missing, so we went out and looked for him. Aang found him and took him to the boat. I kept doing double takes at Aang because it was weird to see him in front of me without any hair.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked.

I shook my head and replied "No, it's just weird seeing you without hair."

Aang grinned and rubbed a hand over his head. "It's a bit weird after going so long with it, but we'll get used to it."

I talked chemistry with the Mechanist until we reached the Gates of Azulon.

"Well, I suppose we should have expected a fire trap from the Fire Nation," I spoke as the nets caught on fire. Then a raging headache rang through my head, causing me to wince.

"Zar?" Adam asked.

"A storm's coming," I replied to his hinted question.

Adam gave me a worried look before Hakoda told us to get on the submarines.

"You've really outdone yourself this time, son," Hakoda praised Sokka.

"Yeah, congratulations Sokka," Toph replied, sounding sick, "you managed to invent a worse way of travel than flying."

Adam dug through his pack. "Here," he said, pressing a small bag into Toph's hand, "ginger candies. Work against motion sickness."

"Thanks doc," Toph replied, popping one into her mouth and instantly looking a bit better.

"Medic," Adam corrected absentmindedly.

"Well, I just came up with the idea. The Mechanist did all the work," Sokka said humbly.

"But don't sell yourself short, my boy. It was your idea to use waterbending to make the subs sink and float. Brilliant, though your ideas were a bit difficult to decipher," the Mechanist responded, pulling out what looked like a child's drawing before putting it back, "Unfortunately, there is one problem I couldn't fix. The subs have a limited air supply. Before we land on the beaches, we'll need to resurface."

Sokka and Hakoda nodded their heads in acceptance to this, but that got me thinking.

"So what happens after this?" I asked aloud. I got confused stares in reply.

"What are you going to do after the war, is what she means," Adam explained for me.

"We'll worry about that after," Hakoda responded.

"Fair enough," Adam and I replied in unison.

Hakoda looked like he was about to question this, but Sokka interrupted.

"Don't. You get used to it after a bit."

The rest of the way, we traveled in relative silence.

We resurfaced about a half hour later. Everyone went out on deck and stretched while they could. The Duke cleaned out his helmet.

"So, this is it, huh?" Aang asked.

"Are you ready for the Fire Nation to know the Avatar's alive?" Sokka inquired.

"I'm ready," Aang declared. Sokka and Aang did this weird forearm-handshake-hug thing. Then we all joined in on a group hug.

"I hope you kick some serious Fire Lord butt, Twinkle Toes," Toph told Aang warmly.

"Everyone listen up," came Hakoda's voice. "The next time we'll resurface, it'll be on the beaches. So stay alert and fight smart. Now break's over, back in the subs."

"Buena suerte!" Adam called.

"Good luck!" I translated for him, walking back into the sub, leaving Aang and Katara on deck.

About two minutes later, Sokka called Katara, who leapt onto Appa and bended an air bubble over his head.

Another hour later, Hakoda ordered us into position.

"What are you?" he asked Adam and me.

"I'm a medic," Adam replied.

"Non-benders," I told him, "He's the medic, I'm a warrior."

"You don't look like one," was Hakoda's response.

"Never judge a book by its cover," I told him.

"Especially not this one, she can have men twice her size on the ground in about 30 seconds flat," Adam backed me up.

"Alright, you're over there," he said, pointing to where the Duke and Pipsqueak were.

"And me?" Adam asked.

"Wherever you're necessary. I'm afraid we have little or no other medics around here," Hakoda frowned. "This is going to be a rough ride."

Harpoons fired at us a few minutes later.

"Ready the torpedo!" Hakoda ordered. Two engineers put in the ice-encased explosive.

"Launch!" he cried after it was loaded. A waterbender pushed it forward with waterbending.

Another few minutes passed, but while under attack, it felt like an hour. Then we beached, and the tanks that were hidden in the bellies of the subs came out, marking the beginning of the Day of Black Sun Invasion.

I had a feeling that it was going to go terribly wrong.

**A/N: I am literally shaking with excitement as I type this up. Only four more "acts" until everything gets turned upside down! (Grins)**


	20. Expected

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Zarla and Adam.**

Zarla's POV

I exited the tanks with Pipsqueak and the Duke, but I separated from them. Adam was wandering, fighting with a dagger he said he had found in his bag when he needed to. I went around, throwing my needles. I was at a disadvantage because I had very little training with them and they were long range weapons. Despite this, I managed to defeat a fair number of the troops that were attacking me. Around me, benders and non-benders alike were fighting, sending rocks and water and spears and shield and swords against their opponents.

I was absolutely _terrified._ Practicing in dojos does not prepare you for full out war where people actually want to kill you. There's nothing to ease you into this. And the headache that was dully buzzing in my head was not helping me at all.

A stroke of luck though- I didn't have to kill anyone. I just knocked them out. The Swamp Monster had apparently appeared, due to massive clumps of seaweed grabbing Fire Nation tanks and destroying them.

Komodo Rhinos and their riders began coming- reinforcements against the invasion force. Sokka took one out, calling for his dad, leaving four more.

I took care of one and random other Water Tribe warriors took care of another. I gained control of the Komodo Rhino and rode over to where Adam was.

"Need a lift?" I asked cheekily.

Adam gave me a look then got up on top of the rhino with me and held onto the back of the saddle. We rode away, helping anyone who needed it and eventually leaving the Rhino to another warrior. Adam and I surveyed the situation and saw the Swamp Monster lose an arm.

I looked up. "We've got to take out those battlements…"

Suddenly, Appa, coated in his armor, dropped nearby us.

"Wanna help?" Sokka called from the right horn.

"Not doing much here," Adam replied, scrambling onto the saddle with me following behind.

We took care of the most the battlements, Adam throwing my Explosions in a Bottle (I had made more), me throwing needles (I really needed to go scrounge for these, I'm running low), Katara waterbending with water stored in barrels on Appa's sides, Sokka using his sword, and Hakoda throwing grenades.

Something threw me off though.

"Look at the stone. It's new," I commented aloud.

"How'd you figure that out?" Sokka inquired.

"It would be dirty or eroded if it had stayed as long as the rest of the place. It was built recently."

The implications of this echoed in my head. It must have shown on my face as Adam instantly cupped it in his hands and looked me in the eye and asked "Zar, what's wrong?"

I don't know what possessed me to say this next line. "We were expected."

All of us looked at each other with worried glances.

"Even still, those battlements need to be taken out," Hakoda pointed out. The Water Tribe family dismounted and told us to take care of the rest of the battlements.

We took care of two before rushing back to the one that had exploded… the one Hakoda was in.

"Dad!" we heard Sokka and Katara exclaiming.

Appa landed and we saw them supporting Hakoda.

"Here," Adam said, rushing forward and helping them load Hakoda into the saddle.

"Yip-yip!" I told Appa, who took off.

"Thanks Appa," I told him before calling over my shoulder, "How's our favorite chief doing?"

"You wouldn't happen to have an egg on you, would you?" was the reply I got.

"Try Katara's magic water- and yes Katara, I know it's bending, it's a joke," I told her without even turning to look.

About the egg comment- according to Adam, there's this… membrane on an eggshell. Have you ever cracked open an egg and looked inside after you dumped out the whites and yolk? The skin on the inside stops bleeding really well. That's why a cracked egg doesn't leak sometimes, the membrane's holding the yolk and whites in place.

Appa landed soon after, with us all getting off and Katara using her healing powers to help her dad.

"I need… to get back… to the troops," Hakoda said, groaning as he finished.

"Sir, the only way you're getting back to those troops is on a stretcher," Adam declared, "you're in no shape to fight- not without getting yourself killed."

"Everyone's counting on me-" Hakoda began, but I interrupted.

"Sir," was all I said.

"I'll do it," Sokka announced.

"No offense Sokka, but you're not exactly Mr. Healing Hands," Katara snapped.

"No. I'll lead the invasion force," Sokka announced.

"Don't be crazy Sokka, use your common sense!" his sister admonished.

"Two things: all the best people are just a bit crazy," I began.

"And common sense is what tells you the world is flat," Adam finished.

"You can do this. I'm proud of you, son," Hakoda whispered.

"I still think you're crazy but I'm proud of you too," Katara told her brother.

I tossed Adam his bag from the saddle. He was staying with Katara and Hakoda while I went with Sokka.

"Listen up everyone!" Sokka shouted, "I want the tanks in a wedge formation! Warriors and benders in the middle! We're taking that tower and heading for the royal palace!"

I dismounted Appa during this time and got in the middle with all the other warriors and benders.

"Charge!" was Sokka's battle cry, and we marched forwards.

I ended up walking beside Toph. Even with all the other vibrations, Toph was able to feel me flinching from the headache that refused to go away.

"Chemist, what're you flinching for? You're not injured."

"Headache. I have this very bad feeling that we were expected," I told her.

"Not much we can do now- we're here, we're fighting."

Guards retreated from the approaching tanks and explosive carts.

"The Fire Nation is falling back!" Tyro, Haru's father, shouted.

The headache rang out again with a feeling of doom and sorrow.

We charged onwards anyway, pushing our way into the capital.

The eclipse was about to begin.

**A/N: What can I say, I'm hyper! However, I do have news. Later on, I shall be on vacation without any Internet access, which means, no more updates until I get back in January. I promise then that I will work on this story more, but…I give no guarantees, as school kicks up the day after I get back, and I have a feeling we're heading out of the frying pan and into the fire.**

**But! Enough of this morbid news. It's Christmas! And for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays! (Although, if you celebrate Hanukah, I think I'm a bit late, or extremely early, depending. Apologies for that.)**

**Thank you all for reading!**

**~Zorua Illusion**


	21. Prisoner

**A/N: Not much to say here, other than that this episode will hopefully throw you a curveball.**

**Disclaimer: Zarla and Adam are mine; everything else belongs to their respective owners.**

Adam's POV

"Dad! You're on your feet again!" Sokka called when he saw Katara and I supporting Hakoda and leading him towards where they were sitting.

"Thanks to your sister and your friend. I'm in no shape to fight but maybe there is some way I could help." Katara and I helped him to sit down while he was talking.

"Everything's going smoothly and the eclipse hasn't even…" I lost track of the conversation as I looked up and saw something flying in the distance.

Katara took a few steps forward.

"Yeah… is that… is that Aang?" Katara asked, surprised.

"What?" Sokka exclaimed.

I watched as Aang dodged fireballs and landed in front of us.

"Please tell us you're here because the Fire Lord turned out to be a nig wimp and you didn't even need the eclipse to take him down?" Sokka inquired hopefully.

"He wasn't home. No one was. The entire palace city is abandoned," Aang informed us.

Zarla's words from earlier rushed through me. "We were expected," I commented aloud without realizing it.

"It's over. The Fire Lord is probably long gone. Far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse," Aang lamented.

"No. My instincts…" Once again, I toned the conversation out, realizing one of our group was missing.

"Where's Zarla?" I asked.

"Last time I saw her, she was joining the other warriors," Sokka told me.

"Chemist was going to see if there was something she could 'discern from the stone' or something," Toph informed.

"Thanks!" I rushed off to find her.

I found her studying the stone, just as Toph said she was.

"Zarla!" I gathered her in a hug. She laughed into my shoulder.

"It's only been what? Half an hour since I saw you?"

"Battlefield," I explained, pulling back and feeling a little heat in my cheeks.

"It's alright."

"Got anything?"

She frowned. "No, other than that these weren't built in a hurry."

"So we've been expected for a long time."

"Apparently."

"Let's go tell the others." We ran back towards the tanks, where our friends were gathered.

When we made it back, it was only Hakoda and Katara left.

"Any good news?" Katara asked.

"No," Zarla replied bluntly.

"Any news?" Hakoda asked.

"Those turrets weren't built in a hurry. It seems we've been expected for awhile." Zarla ran a hand over her face and through her hair, spreading the sweat and dirt and mussing her brown hair.

"Aang, Toph, and Sokka went to try to find the Fire Lord," Katara informed us.

"Brilliant," I said.

"So we need to make sure the city isn't going to kill them the minute they get out," Zarla mused.

Hakoda nodded. "That's the plan."

I could see that the moon was starting to move over the sun.

"We've got to get moving."

The tanks started rolling forward, and we advanced to the path that would lead us to the city. Several battlements fired at us, but were destroyed by the Earthbenders.

"Retreat! Everyone move to secondary defensive position! Retreat!" I heard a Fire Nation officer call.

The Fire Nation army did as they were told, retreating while keeping the attacks at bay.

"The eclipse is only minutes away! We should be able to make it up the hill by the time it starts and secure the palace by the time it's finished!" Bato called, receiving a hearty battle cry from the warriors in response. Zarla and I looked at each other with worried looks.

_Should._

We marched up towards the palace. Not many more soldiers had gotten in our way.

"The eclipse is starting!" the Mechanist called, "put on your eclipse glasses!"

All the warriors did so. The eclipse glasses were like Avatar Land sunglasses, really. They were pretty cool.

"Surround the periphery! We have to secure the palace by the time the eclipse is over. Otherwise, we'll be in for the fight of our lives," Bato ordered. Then he joined the troops again and we divided into platoons and started making our way into the palace city, but were stopped by a platoon of Fire Nation soldiers.

"Stop!" Tyro ordered, "Surrender peacefully and we won't harm you."

"We'll never surrender!" one replied, then began doing a form, but all that came out were a few sparks. "Err, okay, we surrender."

This is how it went on until the end of the eclipse- soldiers surrendering. But nothing else happened.

"What should we do Hakoda? Shouldn't something have happened by now?" Bato inquired.

"I don't know. But now that the eclipse is over I expect we're going to see some Firebenders any minute," Hakoda replied.

I notice Zarla wincing and looking up.

"No, sir. But I doubt we're all going to be able to get away," Zarla said mournfully, pointing at to where she was looking.

"My own invention! This is terrible!" the Mechanist lamented.

"They're back!" Katara exclaimed, pointing at a speck in the sky that quickly became Appa.

The three of us ran towards them.

"It was all a trap. Azula knew we were coming and plotted out every move. We just got to get down to the beach as fast as we can. If we can make it to the submarines, maybe we can get away safely," Sokka tried as he and Toph dismounted.

Zarla and I shook our heads. "Sokka, she planned everything. She knows we came in the subs, so what's going to be her first target?" we asked in unison.

"They've got air power, but so do I! I'm not giving up; I'm going to do what I can to slow them down." Aang took off on his glider.

"Appa, you and I can help too." Katara leapt up onto Appa and followed.

"Everyone, let's get back to the subs!" Sokka ordered.

We would never make it. There were too many balloons, too many traps and diversions. The balloons made it to the beaches and destroyed the submarines.

"How are we all going to escape?" Sokka lamented.

"We're not," Hakoda said.

"Then our only choice is to stand and fight. We have the Avatar, we could still win!"

"On another day, Sokka, yes. With Aang, we could win. But can't you remember? 'You must master _all 4 elements_', Aang. And I know it's a lot of pressure, but I believe in you," Zarla said.

"You'll have to escape on Appa together," Hakoda continued.

"What? We can't leave you behind. We won't leave anyone behind," Katara exclaimed.

"You're our only chance in a long run. You and Sokka have to go with Aang somewhere safe. It's the only way to keep hope alive," Hakoda informed his distraught daughter.

"The youngest of our group should go with you. The adults will stay behind and surrender. We'll be prisoners but we'll all survive this battle," Bato determined.

"I've got some experience with the Fire Nation prisons. It's not going to be easy but we'll get by," Tyro reassured.

"They're at the beach already!" Sokka exclaimed.

A few minutes later, all that was left of the subs were smoke plumes.

We were loading Appa's saddle with the youngest members of the invasion force. Good-byes were being given by all the families.

I was helping load up the saddle from the saddle, and Zarla as helping from the ground. It seemed she was deep in thought about something.

She tossed her bag up suddenly, but she didn't follow. I got off of Appa.

"Zarla, what are you doing?" I asked her.

"Staying."

"But…"

"No buts Adam. You're needed with them. I'm needed here," she told me. I felt the tears in my eyes. I knew there wasn't going to be a way where Zarla got on Appa, and she would force me onto him if I chose to stay.

I grabbed her in a hug. "You'd better make it out alive."

"Cross my hearts and hope to regenerate," she joked. She suddenly turned happy. "I'm so glad I met you."

"Me too." I got back on Appa, waving at the brave warriors who would be staying behind.

"Thank you all for being so brave and so strong. I'll make this up to you," Aang declared.

Appa took off then. I looked back and saw Zarla doing the hail from District 12 in _The Hunger Games_ trilogy. Somehow, it seemed appropriate.

"I know just the place for us to go where we'll be safe for awhile. The Western Air Temple," Aang declared.

_BONUS SCENE!_

Zarla's POV

I did the three fingered salute from the Hunger Games as Appa took off.

"A good man," Hakoda muttered to me.

"One of the best, all of them," I replied.

The soldiers came to take us prisoner, taunting us all the while. I shut them up when I shouted "Ay, le pueden ir directamente que el infierno!" (Oh, you can go straight to hell!) It also confused our own soldiers, but I didn't care much at that point.

We were lead to one of the many prisons surrounding the palace city, which was slowly starting to repopulate.

I couldn't help but feel that this was just a smidge familiar, although this was never shown in the show.

**A/N: DUN DUN DUN! ****What do you think about that? And that is possibly one of the last chapters of Adam's POV.**

**Merry Christmas!**


	22. Discoveries on the Boiling Lake

**A/N: Okay, **_**finally**_** got to the invasion. Now it's time for the other ideas. P.S. Slight Spoiler Alert- These next few chapters will be from Zarla's POV until Boiling Rock. Adam doesn't really influence the show in any way, as the Firebending Masters is a field trip with Zuko and the Western Air Temple, he's off fixing some more medicines he ran out of. So basically, he helps heal Toph's feet, but that's about it.**

**Now, Zarla, however, is a prisoner of the Fire Nation. Let's see how this works out.**

Zarla's POV

They had put us in cells- two each as the Invasion force was rather large. I was bunked with Hakoda, being the only female there.

Finding both of our minds in need of distraction, we talked, where I told Hakoda everything about being from another universe, which he took surprisingly well. I also told him what I had shouted at the taunting troops, to which he laughed and told me "You have guts."

"Ought to with the life I live," I replied. Hakoda nodded.

That was Day Two.

We, meaning me and Hakoda, stayed in the prison in the Fire Nation capital for four days total. During those days, the guards would ask if we knew anything about where the Avatar it went. I knew where Aang, Adam, Katara, Toph, Sokka, and the rest of the group were at, but I pretended like he didn't know anything. I wasn't going to betray my friends like that. When the Invasion force was able to meet up during the exercise period, we found out there asking everyone else too. No one but me knew where they were heading.

Those were the days. The nights were filled with nightmares that I still couldn't remember, but scared me enough to wake me up. The first time it happened, Hakoda freaked. I think it was because I reminded him a lot of his own children. I informed him that they were just nightmares, and that he shouldn't worry too much about them.

One night though, he caught me muttering in my sleep.

"You only said a few words… they didn't make much sense to me, but maybe they'll make more sense to you. You said 'battle', 'lost', 'void'."

I shook my head. "I know at least thirty different things those words could pertain to off of the top of my head."

Hakoda shrugged.

This only happened once more, and all I said was "white".

On the fifth day a guard came into Hakoda and my cell and informed us we were moving to the Boiling Rock prison.

Now I remember the Boiling Rock. It's kind of hard to forget the top security prison that has so much significance to, well, everything. Now, I don't remember exactly _what_ happened in the episode, but I do remember that only the leaders of groups against the Fire Nation were placed in there. So why was I going there?

It took us six days to get to the Boiling Rock prison. The Boiling Rock was called the Boiling Rock for a reason. The prison was set in the middle of a steaming lake. The water is boiling from the heat from the underground trenches deeper than the ocean floor. This made it impossible to escape by the water, as you would be burned by the water soon as it touched your skin. They don't exactly give you quality boat-building materials in prison.

Hakoda had a semi-brilliant plan of escape. We tried staying in the gondola but the guard spotted us and ordered us "Hey, you two, get off the gondola."

"It was worth a shot," I muttered to Hakoda.

We disembarked the gondola and got in line next to the other prisoners, shoulder by shoulder. I looked at the guards and noticed a familiar face. It was Sokka! I made sure not to make any signals of recognization, lest I give him away. He was dressed as a guard so I assumed he was undercover.

Then the warden walked up. He was not very good-looking, with long black hair and big lips. The way he acted just screamed "I'm in charge, deal with it".

"Welcome to the Boiling Rock. I'm sure you've all heard the horrible rumors about our little island I just want to tell you that they don't have to be true, as long as you do everything I say."

Hakoda and I weren't looking at the warden. Hakoda was looking down at the ground while I was looking up at the sky at the clouds, wishing I could see the stars.

"Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you," the warden demanded us.

I ignored him and continued looking at the clouds but Hakoda said "No."

"Oh you'd rather look at my shoes? Then take a look!" The warden taunted, using his heel on Hakoda's handcuffs to force him to the ground. "And you! Get your head out of the clouds!"

"But it's so much fun up there!" I told the warden, finally looking at him.

"Don't get smart with me."

I raise my hands up in a placating gesture. Well, as best as I could with handcuffs.

The warden turned back to Hakoda. "I know exactly who you are, Hakoda of the Water Tribe. So strong-willed. But don't worry, we'll get rid of that in time. Now look me in the eye," the warden growled.

Hakoda slowly looked up hatred clear on his face.

"See? Isn't that better? You will all do as I say or pay the price," the warden said, trying to be dramatic. I rolled my eyes when he wasn't looking. "You will all…" The warden trailed off as Hakoda tilted his handcuffs, making him trip. Some of the guards rushed to the warden's aid, while Hakoda stood up on his own. I gave him a quick little grin to let them know how funny that was.

"Are you okay sir?" One of the guards asked the warden.

"I'm fine!" The warden lashed out, "get these prisoners out of my sight! Except her, she stays," the warden ordered, pointing at me.

Hakoda's eyes narrowed slightly but I shook my head and gestured for him to go on. No need for him to get into more trouble on his first day here. And besides, Sokka would need to find him.

"Who are you?" The warden asked me.

"Apparently, a very important nobody," I replied. I could see the warden getting frustrated.

"What's your name?"

"Zarla."

The warden's eyes widened in recognition before he masked his face in indifference. He made a motion for one of the guards to take me and exchanged a silent conversation of head shakes and nods.

Five minutes later, I realized why. I had a special cell made up of entirely white walls and furniture. Well I say "furniture"; I mean the cot attached to the wall with the sheet and pillow on it.

Apparently, Hakoda wasn't the only one who heard me muttering in my sleep.

I wasn't really afraid of the white everything, but it didn't exactly make me feel comfortable, either. Having nothing else to do, I sat on the bed. Exhausted from traveling I shortly fell asleep.

Now this dream I could remember. Kind of hard to forget what flips your life upside down.

I was in 9 and 10's TARDIS counsel room, which didn't look in the best of shape. Wires were spilling out all over the place and the time rotor itself smoking. The 10th Doctor, clad in his brown pinstriped suit, was in the middle of it all.

"Zarla? Zarla, can you hear me?" He asked.

I found that I couldn't talk or move, but somehow I knew how to respond to his question. I sent an affirmative feeling towards him.

"Oh, brilliant!" He gave me an odd look then. "You think this is a regular dream don't you?"

This time I sent an annoyed feeling, a confused feeling, and another affirmative feeling, which if I could talk would translate into "Well, duh!" And "is there another type of dream?"

"Oh what was that pass key again? I know we chose one… I knew I should've written it down! Oh! I remember what it is now!" He smiled at me then. "If you had one less day to spend with your love, what day would you choose?"

_Not the ones he had_. I thought instinctively.

Then all the memories came rushing through. How Adam and I got to Avatar Land in the first place, how we met the Doctor, and the scant few adventures we had with him beforehand.

"You remember now, don't you? Well, it's up to you to get Adam to remember. And by the way, before I go, you will be getting your memories of the series back until after the episodes happen. That was by your own design, because you feared that you would interfere with time if you remembered. And one more thing- good luck Zarla Mattson."

And then the message faded to black, leaving me more confused. On the bright side, I knew what I had to do. Luckily, I just had to put the prison garb over my normal clothes, although they did take my blue trainers and gave me these slipper-like things instead. I still had the rose sculpture that I found in my bag.

I still had hope.

**A/N: Whatdaya think of that? I'm aware that some of this might not make sense, especially if you haven't seen Doctor Who, but it's a plausible (well, sort of) explanation of how Zarla and Adam got to Avatar Land in the first place.**

**Merry Christmas!**


	23. Burned

**A/N: I'm back! There really isn't any place like home. And by the way, if any of you live 16 hours or more away from Florida, don't drive straight through. Seriously, get a plane or divvy up the drive if you have the choice. Twenty-two hours were spent in that van this vacation. NOT FUN.**

**Disclaimer: I'm getting there, I'm getting there! Chill. I own nothing except Zarla and Adam, but if you want to use them in a story, feel free. (But please do ask first.)**

**On With the Story!**

Zarla's POV

Okay, I know I should not have been surprised when Sokka walked into my room and his guard uniform, but I was still out of things from that message….dream… thing.

"Nice room," Sokka commented.

I huffed. "Not like I asked for it."

In a normal situation, Sokka would've laughed, but I assume he was paranoid because his lips only twitched in amusement.

"Anyway I just got done talking with my dad. We came up with an escape plan."

So Sokka began telling me about the plan in great detail. Then he rushed off to do something else.

So I sat alone in the room for awhile remembering all the adventures we had before we came to Avatar Land.

Eventually, a bell rang and the doors opened signaling for us to go out into the courtyard. I left and start heading towards they rendezvous point that Sokka told me about earlier. Hakoda and Suki were there as well.

"This is it, we have to start a riot," Sokka explained.

"Okay, but how do we do that?" Suki demanded.

"I'll show you," Hakoda said before going off and trying (failing) to start a riot. Luckily, Chit Sang came to the rescue and started a riot for us. We shifted to another tower, trying to stay out of the chaos of the riot. Zuko met us there.

"Zuko, good. We're all here. Now all we need to do is grab the wording and get to the gondolas," Sokka explained, pointing to the top of another tower.

"And how do we do that?" Zuko demanded.

"I'm not sure."

"I thought you thought this through!" Zuko exclaimed, annoyed.

Suki and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. _Boys._

We didn't stick around here the rest of the conversation, instead heading off to take care of the one missed detail in the plan. Suki used her Kyoshi warrior training to get up the tower without using the stairs. I climbed the poles and pipes that were hanging all around the tower.

_Idiots, _I thought, _don't ever give prisoners a way to get to you._

Suki was up there before me, but I was able to take out some of the guards so that way she could get to the Warden. She quickly defeated him, gagged him, and tied his hands behind his back.

"Sorry Warden, you're my prisoner now." She didn't seem very apologetic as she slammed him into a wall.

Boys caught up with us, all panting heavily.

"We've got the Warden; now let's get out of here!"

"Those are some girls," Hakoda commented, holding his stomach.

"Tell me about it," Sokka replied.

I rolled my eyes. "Can we please get moving before we get caught?"

"Paranoid much?" Sokka asked.

"Sokka, I would suggest shutting up unless you want me to list off every time I've seen you paranoid."

He listened and we ran off, heading for the gondolas. Chit Sang had picked up the Warden and started running.

"We're almost there!" Suki shouted as we neared the bridge that lead to the gondolas.

Suddenly, a flame shot out towards Sokka, but Zuko shoved him aside and intercepted the flame.

"Back off, we've got the Warden!" Zuko demanded as reinforcements came.

Chit Sang slightly shifted, allowing the guards to see the Warden.

They all quickly backed off, and Zuko led the way across the bridge after telling everyone to go, everyone going slowly and keeping an eye on the guards.

I could still feel the rose statuette in my pocket. Remembering it, I felt just a bit luckier.

We made it to the gondola without further incident. Zuko remained on the platform while everyone else ran towards the gondola. I opened the door.

"Everyone in!" Suki exclaimed, everyone but Zuko filing in afterwards. Zuko pushed the lever he was standing next to and then started to kick it. On his fourth kick, the lever broke, and just in time, for the guards were now starting to shoot fireballs at him. He jumped off the platform towards the gondola. Sokka caught him and helped him inside the metal box.

"What are you doing?" Sokka demanded.

"I'm making it so they can't follow us," Zuko replied.

"Way to think ahead," I complimented.

"Who are you?" Zuko asked.

"Zarla." I saw Zuko opening his mouth to say something else, but Hakoda interrupted.

"Wait. Who's that?"

Sokka, Zuko, and I all looked out the "window" of the gondola. There were two female figures- one in all pink and another in armor with guards bowing to show respect.

"That's a problem," Zuko asserted.

Just as he finished saying that, the two girls charged at the gondola, Ty Lee using her gymnastic skills and Azula her firebending and a pair of hand cuffs she snatched from a nearby guard.

Not waiting for the others, I pulled myself onto the roof of the gondola and got into a ready stance. I was soon joined by Zuko, Sokka, and Suki. Suki squared off with Ty Lee, and Zuko and Sokka went against Azula, leaving me as a free lancer. I couldn't work with any one of these people as well as I could with Adam or even Aang and Katara, as I had never practiced with them. I made a mental note to propose that idea later.

Just then, I had to dodge a blast of blue flame that came flying at me. Now was not the time for thinking- I could do that later. Right now I needed to act.

I dodged each of Azula's flames, along with Zuko's, for friendly fire was a hazard. I tried to get in close to Azula, but she's slippery as a snake and was able to keep me back with her fire.

I don't have good memories associated with fire. For one, when I was three, my house in New England burned down, and so we moved to the Midwest. I don't remember much of New England at all- just the beauty of it in the fall and winter, and those memories are hazy and discolored. Also, in my chemistry experiments, I've been burned and I've got the scars to prove it, and Adam can vouch for me. I'm not afraid of fire though, but that doesn't mean I'm not weary of it.

Anyway, seeing the fire blasts she was putting out, I came up with an idea. I continued trying to get closer to her, but this time, instead of dodging and staying the roof, I slipped back into the gondola and came up on the other side, getting right up close to Azula right after the demented princess had just thrown a blast at Zuko, so I did what came naturally.

I kicked her knee and punched the back of her head at the same time.

She cried out, I think more in surprise than pain, and threw a fireball at me.

I was too close to dodge completely, but Zuko was able to cap most of it off, but some of it still hit me.

So again, instincts kicked in and I threw a "fonger" at her. Fonger is… kind of like stabbing someone in the neck with a chopstick. Violent, I know, but that's the best way I can explain it. I followed that with a huien (hook) and kept going until the princess managed to dodge and kick me in the back, to which Sokka quickly stepped forward and slashed his sword as to make sure she couldn't get near me.

"Cut the line!"

The gondola stopped moving suddenly, causing everyone to lose their balance. TyLee hopped up to the mechanism use to move the gondola.

"They're about to cut the line!"

"No, efectivamente? Que yo nunca tuvieran adivinó aunque ellos simplemente ahora gritó que eran a punto de hacer que," I stated sarcastically, picking myself up off the floor.

"Then it's time to leave."

Azula and Ty Lee hopped onto another gondola heading the other direction.

"Hey princess? I'm not afraid of the color white," I called after her. Then I slipped back into the gondola, hissing in pain as my back and right arm flared.

Hakoda looked at me worriedly before Zuko announced "They're cutting the line. The gondola's about to go!"

"I hope this thing floats," Hakoda commented.

"If it was turned upside down, maybe. But if it falls flat or on its side, well, we're roasted."

"Thank you for the positive outlook." Sokka's sarcasm should be trademarked.

"Wasn't supposed to be one. Realist, not optimist."

Suddenly, the gondola started moving. Looking out the window, I saw Mai fighting the guards.

"Hey Zuko, isn't that Mai?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." He looked and sounded surprised.

We made it the rest of the way without incident, unless you count Chit Sang continuing to take the Warden until Hakoda told him no.

"Well, we made it out. Now what?" Suki asked as Zuko strayed away. I chose this moment to look at my right arm.

Terrible idea.

My arm was an unnatural shade of red, and the pain was not being helped by the humid air. I knew the edges of my hair was either burnt off of singed because I could smell it. I assumed my back was in the same condition as my arm.

"There. That's our way out," Zuko announced.

"Brilliant," I replied.

Then everything went dark.

**A/N: I'm so sorry for not getting this up sooner! I actually had the whole thing written out, but the more I read it, the more I hated it, so I ended up rewriting the entire thing.**

**By the way, if any of my future chapters/stories have the words "I'm thinking about doing the Science Fair" or anything like that in the A/N, do me a favor and tell me "no". Seriously. I didn't know it was possible to make science **_**not fun**_**, but these guys managed it.**


	24. Dun Dun Dun!

**A/N: NEVER AGAIN. NEVER A-FREAKING-GAIN. I have no idea how the hell I got a Superior, but no way in Heaven and Hell on Earth am I doing this again.**

**And sorry, but I'm pretty sure this is going to be a very short chapter. I don't know.**

**DISCLAIMER: Exactly what the name says. I only own Zarla and Adam.**

**NO ONE'S POV**

"We… kind of broke into a Fire Nation prison…" Sokka admitted sheepishly to Aang, Katara, and Toph as he got off the air balloon.

Happy to see her father, but worried about the other female that had quickly become to be her friend, Katara asked "Was Zarla there?"

At this, Sokka frowned.

"Yes. But…" The rest of the words needed no saying, as Aang had already rushed off to check on his friend, coming back about ten seconds later and dashing into the temple with his airbending. He came back with Adam, talking at a frantic pace.

"And her arm was all red, like a really bad sun burn and and and…" Aang was speaking.

"Aang, I can't understand what you're saying," Adam sighed, rubbing his temples. Yes, it was true, he missed Zarla terribly, but he had to function without her. It was hard, speaking in Spanish and then realizing that no one could understand you, and it added another chip on the crack in his heart whenever he did it.

Aang didn't say another word, just led Adam into the balloon. The whole party followed, including The Duke, Teo, and Haru.

However, none of them were allowed into the room where Zarla apparently was.

Adam was standing outside of it, face palming.

"Did anyone at least attempt to treat her?" he was asking.

Sokka shook his head. "We needed to wash them first, but there was not water under boiling temperature, and we couldn't risk stopping in case Azula followed us."

"If she's as clever as people make me believe, she already knows where we are," Adam muttered darkly, "Okay, can everyone help me out here? Nothing too hard, just someone go get my bag and Zarla's, too, if you can find it, and someone else go get all the water you can from the fountain."

Everyone rushed off while Adam entered the actual room Zarla was in.

She was laid on her stomach, revealing the cherry red foot-print on her back, and her arm was in a similar state of color, all the way from her wrist to her elbow, positioned to produce the least amount of pain.

"Zarla, what are we going to do with you?" Adam asked more to himself than Zarla.

"Fix me up, I hope," came the unexpected reply.

Adam blinked. _Well, that's not good. But it did take them a day to get here, so maybe it is._

"How do you feel?"

"Like I was shoved into a Bunsen burner."

Adam chuckled and shook his head. "Even severely injured you still snap our heads off."

"Maldita sea fijamente." (Damn straight.) Then she closed her eyes. Whether she was unconscious or sleeping, Adam couldn't tell.

Just then, everyone else came in. Katara and Aang were waterbending the water, while Sokka carried both of the bags. Everyone else just hung around.

Adam smiled, though you could tell just how worried he was in his eyes. He took the bags from Sokka and started digging though his own, eventually coming up with bandages and burn salve, though not before comically sticking his whole arm into the bag.

"Do we have containers for the water?"

Hakoda gestured to the bowls he was holding and set them out so Katara and Aang could fill them.

"Alright you guys, I know you want to make sure she's going to get better, but shoo." Adam herded them all outside the door, and when he was asked "why", he simply told them that Zarla had some personal issues that were going to be addressed in the room and she didn't need an audience.

Remembering Zarla's story, Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Katara just went with it, which encouraged the others to do the same.

So, in the room, Adam tore off the bottom half of Zarla's shirt, just enough so that way the fabric would not get in the wound. He didn't tear the fabric all the way off. He took the water and washed the burns and kept them cool. Then he applied the burn salve and put the wet bandages over her arm. He searched through Zarla's bag after that, eventually finding a stuffed cat. He placed it under her arm and tucked her in as best he could.

"Night Zar."

"Night Adam." The whisper was faint. "And Adam?"

"Hm?"

"I think I might love you."

And then Zarla was asleep and Adam was frozen as if Jack Frost had attempted to make him a statue.

**A/N: All I can say is: FINALLY.**


	25. Finally

**A/N: Holy cow! I didn't expect to have my inbox flooded in 12 hours! Geez. And, to the Guest who reviewed, since I can't send a reply to your inbox, here' the reply. That's what I try to do.**

**Also, thank you to all of those who favorite, reviewed, and followed this story! Now let's get on with it!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Zarla and Adam. Also, the authoress is getting really tired of saying this. If I owned A:TLA, wouldn't I have put Zarla and Adam in their canonically instead of writing a story?**

No one's POV

Adam was shaken out of his reverie by a voice calling his name. He took one last look at Zarla to make sure she was comfortable and left the room, only to be instantly bombarded by questions.

"Whoa, whoa, hold it, one question at a time!" he said.

"Is Zarla gonna be okay?" Aang asked.

"She should be fine, but she shouldn't fight for about a week. Good thing Combustion Man's gone."

At this, the entire group looked relieved.

"Will she scar?" Zuko asked, gaining the surprise of everyone.

"What?" he demanded.

"Didn't think you cared all that much," Sokka replied.

"She was injured by my sister." That was the only explanation anyone got.

Adam thought about it. "Not too much- she's been burned before, you know. The scars will fade into practically nothing in a year or two. However, these might be a bit more noticeable- after all, they are large and weren't treated immediately. But still, nothing that should case pain."

Zuko nodded.

"Why'd we have to leave?" The Duke asked.

"Zarla has some personal issued that were being addressed, and did not need an audience, as I said. I won't tell you anymore- that's her story to decide to share, not mine." Adam knocked out any further questioning about the subject. "Anymore questions?"

"No. But I've got somethin' to say. Thanks for gettin me out of prison, but I ought to head back home, tell my ma I'm alright. Thanks for lettin me stay with ya," Chit Sang announced.

Everyone said their good-byes to Chit Sang, Katara presenting him with some food for the journey and Adam giving him some medicine. Chit Sang walked off, presumably towards his home.

The next order of business was getting Zarla into a room she could use. It was nearby the fountain and Zuko's room. She would've been moved to the area with the rest of the group, but sleeping on rock while injured was instantly forbidden by Adam. They ended up carrying her while she was sleeping, though after Adam had made sure that she subconsciously knew he was there.

With that done, they moved the balloon to an area where it could still be used but was hidden.

By this time, it was late. Katara had made stew for everyone and Adam made sure Zarla got some. He also made sure she got in a few sips of water.

"How is she?" Hakoda asked Adam after everyone else had gone to sleep. The only three up were Adam, Zuko, and Hakoda, who were gathered around the embers of the fire.

Adam brushed his hand through his hair and over his eyes before answering. "She'll be fine, as I said. It's just how she'll get there that I'm worried about."

Seeing the others' questioning looks, he elaborated slightly.

"I assume you've gathered she has nightmares?"

Hakoda nodded and Zuko shrugged.

"From what I found about two nights ago, those nightmares aren't just irrational fears. We've met them. We've fought them, and we've paid the price in lives." Adam zoned out at this, seeming to be lost in a memory.

"What do you mean?" Hakoda asked lowly.

Adam sighed before hanging his head in his hands. "We traveled. Very, very far. Zarla informed you about our origins, correct?"

Hakoda nodded again and Zuko just looked confused.

"I found out how we got here."

"How?"

And s Adam told them the story- about how he had a dream (unknowingly very similar to Zarla's, only in his, he could not speak with the Doctor) and remembering those few months and faces lost.

Then he told about the perils of traveling in the TARDIS- the monsters that were fought every other day, and all those lives lost in the battles, and how it slowly wears down the mind.

"She's remembering those times."

"During our imprisonment, she said the words 'white', 'lost', 'void', and 'battle'. Do you know what that means?"

"She also shouted at my sister that she wasn't afraid of the color white," Zuko added, confused.

"Partially. The Doctor is in love, actually. Would you believe it?" Adam grinned sadly. "She's amazing, really. She saved him from himself, the one enemy he could never defeat. She was going to stay with him forever. Then came the Daleks and the Cybermen." Adam's face had transformed into a thunderstorm, and his tone was darker than black ink. "The Cybermen came first, coming from another universe, but the way it was happening was dangerous. They were… I guess 'injuring' the Void, the Howling, Hell, whatever you want to call it, the space between universes. Then came the Daleks from the Arc- an imprisonment system. It was opened and London turned into a battle ground. London's a town, by the way. The Doctor and Rose and others tried to fix it… some of the others ended up going to Pete's world, as they call the other universe. One ended up going against her will. Rose." Adam sighed. "They were going to close the Void- sucking everything with the multi-universal residue in. the Daleks, the Cybermen…. And themselves. Magna-clamps were going to prevent that. However, one of the levers wasn't locked, and ended up in the other direction. Rose fixed it… but she had lost her grip. She would've fallen in if Pete, her alternate universe father, had not made one last trip and rescued her. In the end, Doctor was only able to send a message. He had never told her he loved her, and he was going to, I swear upon my mother's grave, he was going to. But the message was only two minutes long and he ran out of time. 'Rose Tyler' were the last words he said to her. Zarla derived a saying from this. 'Beware the man who has two hearts, for they are twice as easy to break and twice as hard to mend.'" Adam looked towards the sky. "The wall was white. The most heart breaking scene on television. Zarla and I saw it and were out of it for three days. Knowing and remembering it's real, and being friends with Doctor? Might as well drive an icicle through our hearts."

Hakoda started at the violent saying.

Zuko made a note not to make either of these people mad. If Zarla was only fighting _naturally_ against his sister, he didn't want to see her fueled by anger. And if Adam ever got violent…

In the few days Zuko had known Adam, he found him to be a quiet, kind, and rather brilliant. He knew when to crack a joke- though they often ended up laughing at his attempt more than the actual joke. Adam was not really an instantly labeled fighter. He was much like Aang- a good fighter, but hardly does it, and if he got mad, you'd better watch your back.

And seeing how protective he was of Zarla just made Zuko wonder how close they really were.

"What did you mean by 'she's been burned before'?" Zuko inquired.

Adam just gave him a deadpan look. "She's a chemist. She works with fire. Accidents happen and I'm usually there to help her out."

"Chemist?" The term was unfamiliar to both Avatar Land males.

"She works in the scientific branch of chemistry- figuring out what the world is made of and how things react with one another. Ask her about it when she wakes up."

"When will she wake up?" Hakoda asked.

"Sometime tomorrow, ideally. If not, then the day after for sure."

At this, all of the people relaxed, knowing Zarla would be all right. The female had grown on the two in the brief time they had known her.

So the three eventually fell into different kinds of sleep- Zuko into his light but refreshing sleep, Hakoda's sleep just as heavy as his son's, and Adam's unrestful and filled with nightmares and guilt, until a calming wave settled upon him and finally allowed him rest.

Zarla, for her own part, had had enough of sleeping, and instead stayed awake in her bed, waiting for Adam, as she couldn't move her back to much. And, unfortunately, getting out of bed involved moving her back, which sucked a lot, in her mind. So she sat there for about four hours, writing down some ideas that popped into her head. It was then Adam came in, looking a little tired.

"Ah, so Sleeping Beauty finally wakes."

That was retorted with a stuffed cat to the face.

"I'm not some helpless princess stuck in a castle."

"Naw, if anything, you'd be the bodyguard," Adam grinned, checking her arm. Finding it okay, he helped Zarla up and checked her back.

"You're fine….ish."

Zarla studied Adam, who wasn't meeting her eyes.

"For the love of- Adam, would you quit blaming yourself?" she demanded.

Adam, knowing it was pointless to argue, just looked down.

"It's just… if I had…"

Zarla held up a hand, signaling for him to stop.

"What I did was my own choice Adam. You have a big heart Adam, but we can't save everyone. We're still alive, right?" Zarla encouraged.

"…Yeah."

"Now, I get the feeling you wanted to talk to me about something. Care to tell me if I'm right?" Zarla settled down for a reply.

Adam ran a hand through his hair, to which Zarla raised her eyebrows.

"You said something before you fell asleep…"

"What did I say?"

Adam muttered something that Zarla didn't quite catch.

"Repetas, por favor."

"You… erm… said 'I think I love you'…"

Zarla, instead of freaking out and instantly denying it, instead blinked and said "Oh."

Adam just stared at her, and she stared at him.

"Well, that wasn't how I expected to say it."

And Adam gaped at her in shock, causing her to laugh. Eventually, he joined in. They quieted down after awhile and just stared at each other.

Ask either one how it had happened, and they wouldn't tell you, for they didn't know themselves, but in the next moment, Zarla and Adam had their lips pressed together in their first kiss together. It was innocent, really, but I'll not describe anymore as that's their story to share if they so wish.

They parted, and after a few moments of silence, asked each other at the same time, "Why don't we wait?"

For you see, there is still a war going on, and neither would like their relationship to have to be juggled with a war. It made sense to them, and that's all that mattered.

"Alright," Zarla agreed first with a grin, "but before we do…"

Adam, taking the hint, kissed her, and she kissed back, for the last time until after the war.

Afterwards, Zarla hugged him tight as she could without hurting herself, burying her face in his chest.

"Thank you." Adam heard.

"For what?"

"Everything."

And Adam returned the embrace, content with waiting a little bit longer for Zarla.

After all, he waited for her this long. A few more weeks wouldn't kill either of them.

**A/N: Nothing to say other than FINALLY.**


	26. Southern Raiders

**A/N: I'm back! Well, I never really left for all that long, I don't think. The thing about my school- your sense of time gets really whacked up. I can hardly tell today's date. Anyway, I just have this story stuck in my head. And I need to get it unstuck. So, what's on the list…**

**Oh! The Southern Raiders! This will be interesting, with the varying thoughts of revenge. And yeah, I know, I'm basically screwing the entire timeline, and thus, part of the story. Should I list this under AU? **

**Apologies about the long, unnecessary A/N.**

**Disclaimer: I own Zarla and Adam and nothing more.**

Zarla's POV

Well, it's official.

We are no longer in the show.

Well, we are… but just not the way I learned it. Let me explain:

According to the returning memories, Chit-Sang wasn't supposed to leave until much later. Then again, I suppose adding two new characters to the scene, who knew about the future and came from an entirely different _universe_ changes things just a bit.

Right now is a good example.

Before, the group had planned on staying at the Western Air Temple for an undefined amount of time. When I found this out, I questioned them.

"Um, you guys, wouldn't it be just a bit obvious we're camping out here?"

"How so?" Hakoda asked.

We were all gathered at the plaza where everyone had been sleeping. I was allowed outside under supervision, in case I had problems walking due to my back (which, according to Adam, would be healed up in about a week, and 100% in two). The reason Katara wasn't healing it was because Adam said that it would screw up my healing patterns, making my system rely on waterbending healing, so when we went back to our world, if I got hurt, the healing would be extremely difficult. I'll pass, thank you.

"We're traveling with the last Airbender. And no offense Aang, but these temples aren't exactly as secure nor as stable as they once were. Also, we came here in about a day, going full speed. Zuko, where would Azula get her airships from?"

"The capital."

"Two days to get to the Boiling Rock, One day to get here, one day for a message. That's a total of four days, and we've already wasted two of them because of me. We need to move before Azula finds us and catches us off guard," I concluded.

"Where can we go?" Aang asked.

"Pretty much any abandoned island on the coast," Sokka replied, drawing out a map, "Think you can point one out for us Zuko?"

Zuko joined in and took a glance at the map before pointing to a rather tiny island, hardly on the map at all.

"There. No one lives there, or even goes near it; they say there's an evil spirit that haunts the island." Zuko rolled his eyes.

"So says the man who has chased a person who wasn't around for 100 years and was shocked to find out he was a 12 year old," I deadpanned.

Zuko shut up and soon, the group was packing.

Adam and I went on the airship as opposed to Appa because Teo, Haru, and The Duke wanted to ride in the saddle. Sokka and Suki joined us, saying that it was too unbalanced in weight distribution. They would get another chance to ride Appa, after all, so why make him more tired?

We also loaded the supplies into the airship. Adam was trying to get me to not help, but I wasn't taking it.

"Puedo ascensose cosas!" I told him. (Translation: I can lift things!)

"Dieco no pudeo nunca," he replied calmly, taking the box I had. It was loaded with fruit from one of the surviving valleys. (Translation: I never said you couldn't.)

Zuko and Suki stared at us as if we were insane.

"Por que actua como el?" (Why are you acting like it?)

"No, no soy!" (No I'm not!)

"Ve abajo." (Look down.) **(A/N: I **_**might**_** be wrong on this- commands in Spanish are… weird.)**

Adam did and noticed what he was doing.

"Lo siento." (I'm sorry.)

I sighed. "Don't be, alright? You doing what you learned. I'm just an oddball, remember?"

Adam grinned and let go of the box.

I carried the box inside the airship.

"What was that?" Zuko practically demanded.

"An argument," I replied.

Zuko facepalmed. "I meant the language. You two were speaking gibberish!"

"Not gibberish, Spanish. It's a different language that we know and will slip into without always being fully aware that we aren't speaking English anymore."

Zuko just stared at me. I keep forgetting that he doesn't know the map of our world.

"Think of it as code, only we aren't planning an attack."

Zuko shrugged and continued to get the balloon ready. Despite the fact that he was riding Appa, he was the only one who knew how to start up the balloon, and was doing more than a crash course to get underway.

We left about an hour later. We didn't do much on the flight; sleeping and keeping the ship running, mostly. Adam put more salve on my arm and back.

"It'll be healed in about five more days, if you're careful, but there'll still be scars."

"They'll fade."

We were sitting on a chair, leaning on one another. There wasn't anything to be done, and I think we fell asleep, because the next thing I know, Hakoda is waking us up, saying we landed.

We unpacked everything essential for the night before making dinner and attempting to form a plan.

"I never thought I would say this, but we need to split up," I sighed, putting down my still-full bowl.

"Zarla, eat," Adam gently commanded, ignoring the fact that everyone had gone into shock.

"Later."

"Why do we need to split up?" Hakoda asked.

"Wouldn't it be a bit suspicious if there was a Fire Nation Imperial Airship chasing after a flying bison day after day, landing in the same spot at night, and not capturing anyone from this group? And Appa can't carry all of us and supplies, and we can't just abandon ship. Although we might have to… it would also be suspicious to have and airship out of formation."

"You make a good point," Hakoda acknowledged.

I shrugged. "I wish I wasn't able to."

Adam grimaced, knowing what I meant, then gestured towards the abandoned food bowl, of which I took about five more bites before declaring myself done.

The atmosphere was tense.

"Okay, this is a bit morbid," I commented.

"Wow, camping. It really seems like old times again, doesn't it?" Aang asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"If you really want to feel like old times, I could, uh… chase you around awhile and try to capture you."

Most of the group laughed. Katara and I were the only ones who didn't.

"Haha," Katara said sourly.

"To Zuko! Who knew that after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today, he'd be our friend!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Here here!"

"Behind even the brightest of light, there is a shadow, but many people do not realize that it is necessary to have a shadow to find the light," Adam and I commented together, raising our glasses. Silence reigned and was quickly becoming uncomfortable.

"Got anything to share, you two?" Sokka asked.

"I don't think-" Adam began before I cut him off.

"Actually, yeah, I think I've got 'Animal Issues' down."

"Really?" I nodded. "Alright, let's try it then," Adam beamed.

"People think they're better than their pets, you know? Like putting a pet bird in a cage, that's pretty nice, huh? 'Get in there. _Clang._ Shut up. I'll be making the decisions around here.' I always wonder what a bird's thinking, standing in a cage," Adam began.

"Hey, thank you. I have been blessed with the gift of flight! 'Preciate the environment. I know how to fly and I'm standing on a stick! And I've already read these newspapers- in fact, I've whited out some typos," I replied.

The group laughed.

"I don't know what animals think, you know? Have you ever knocked over an ant pile? Isn't it amazing they start rebuilding it that second? They're just," and here, Adam made high pitched gibberish, "All running around. You think, you know, there'd be just a minute, you know, where'd they'd all get upset. You just knock it over."

"_Ah, man! I don't believe it! Look at this!_" I half shouted.

"Even if most of them started to work, there'd be a few hanging off to the side going…"

"I ain't doing that again. He's standing right there, he's just gonna knock it over again," I muttered loud enough for the group to hear.

The group lost it.

"Ah, man, I'm going to have to remember that one. Got anything else up your sleeves?" Sokka inquired, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

"Yeah actually. And by the way, this is a joke, so please don't take offense," Adam said before launching off into the next bit.

"Personal question. Do you believe her when she says 'I love you'?"

"Yes," Sokka replied automatically.

"Good answer," all the females minus Toph but with Hakoda and Zuko responded.

"Hear me out. Just two seconds. Gimme two seconds. I don't believe girls when they say 'I love you; I go to my girl, 'I love you'."

"Oh, I love you too!" I made sure to adapt the most annoying tone I could.

"Ah, I wish I could believe you," Adam said in a not-so-whispering voice.

"I know when girls love anything in this world! Girls love anything in this world. Watch them- their eyes will roll up into the back of their heads, always. Bring home a cupcake on Monday, watch her reaction. Give her a cupcake. 'Hey I brought you a cupcake!'"

"Ohmigod, I love cupcakes," I said in the annoying tone, adding emphasis on the "o" in love and rolling my eyes into the back of my head.

"Wow a pony!"

"Ohmigod I love ponies!" I did the same thing, accenting the "o" and rolling my eyes. Adam made a sour face.

"I love you."

"I love you too!"

"No you don't jerk you love _cupcakes and ponies!"_Then Adam let out a fake sob that had me laughing and patting him on the back because he was laughing too.

Suki just raised her eyebrows along with Katara, but everyone else in the group was laughing.

"Alright, well, that's enough of that," Adam decided, much to the disappointment of the group. Then he ordered me of to bed, which I did, but not before giving him a smack upside the head and a "don't tell me what to do".

I must've slept a lot, because it was utter pandemonium when I woke up.

"Anyone want to tell me what the heck is going on?" I demanded/asked half asleep.

"Katara and Zuko are gone," Hakoda told me.

I blinked. "And?"

"They went to go find the man who killed Katara's mom," Aang informed me.

"Well," I spoke sharply, "mierda."

"To sum it up, pretty much," Adam called from his spot near the fire.

I rubbed my hand against my forehead. "This brings up so many questions." I walked over and sat next to Adam, Hakoda and Aang following, leaving Teo, Haru, and the Duke flipping out while Sokka and Toph slept (or tried to. Toph threw a small rock at them and complained a bit from their vibrations).

"Like what?" Adam inquired.

"What are we going to do, for one, second, how?"

"I don't follow," Aang stated.

"What are we going to do? We can't exactly stay here forever, but we're going to have to wait for Katara and Zuko so that way they don't start freaking out. And also, I really don't believe Katara will kill that man. She's too strong for that. She'll realize it eventually. But I have a feeling this is going to dredge up another point. Aang, I know you don't like killing living beings… but what are you going to do when you have to face Ozai?"

Aang looked down at his hands. "I don't know," he whispered. I just barely heard him, putting my hand on top of his folded ones and smiling reassuringly when he looked at me.

"You are not alone," was all I said, but it was all that was needed to make Aang smile a bit.

The rest of the day passed with everyone just waiting for Katara and Zuko to return, the next day following much the same way. But nearby sunset, they came back. Katara stuck on the dock. I went up to talk with her as Aang and Zuko talked.

"Didn't go as you thought it might, did it?" I asked although I already knew the answer.

"No, it didn't," Katara said semi harshly.

I shrugged and sat next to her, also putting my feet in the water.

"How'd you do it?" Katara blurted suddenly.

"Do what?"

"Forgive the guy who…"

I stayed silent for a minute. "If I'm quite honest, I'm not sure I did. As I said, forgiveness is… difficult, for lack of a better term, in the best of times. I think I didn't hold a grudge is because there really wasn't any reason to. Sure, he scared me, sure, I never wanted to go through that in the first place, but he never did the deed, and he was punished for what he did do. And that much, at least, made me feel better, that no one else I knew would fall into his traps. And that's worth everything."

Katara nodded.

"You know, we may be our own worst enemies, but we're clever," I started, "we come up with clever sayings. There's this one Arabic one- Arabia, I'm not sure if it's a country or a region with countries, but that's the origin- that translates to 'forgive others, not because they deserve it, but because you deserve peace'."

"I don't think I'll ever forgive him."

"He's not the one I'm talking about."

Katara glanced at me.

"Forgive Zuko for Ba Sing Se. Or at least make an attempt. Was he wrong? Yes, but the battle would've turned out he same way. Azula had the Dai Lee on her side. Neither one of you would've escaped, because Iroh would've left with Zuko. It was Azula, and even then, she's just doing what she was taught. In the end, it all comes down to Ozai and his predecessors. While I'm not asking you to forgive all of them, at least try to forgive Zuko. He's trying, Katara."

Katara just nodded her head, continuing to swing both her feet back and forth.

I left just as Aang came up and started talking with her.

"What did you say?" Adam idly chatted while he put salve on my burns.

"What needed to be said."

He nodded in acceptance and worked in silence.

The next day, we split up, with the main four plus Adam, Zuko, Suki and I going on Appa, and everyone else going on the war balloon. They were going to attempt to find the other warriors and free them, so as to prepare for a final battle the day before Sozin's Comet, which was rapidly approaching.

Meanwhile, we headed off to Zuko's family's vacation home, but not on Ember Island. Here, Aang would train in firebending without arousing too much suspicion.

We had about a week and a half before Sozin's Comet came. And I don't think that we would be ready, even if we had another decade to prepare, especially not with the feeling of dread and hopelessness coming from my headache I was having.

**A/N: MY. FREAKING. ICICLES. (Because I really don't want to curse.) Anyway, sorry it took me so dang long to get this up. It was really hard, deciding what I wanted Zarla to do about Katara's revenge taking. I ended up bull****ing it, making everyone but Aang, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka asleep when they went. Sokka went back to sleep, in case that's not clear.**

**So, anyway, holy cow! This story is 144 pages and 49,791 words long, including A/N's. It's almost over, unfortunately, because next up is the Ember Island Players, and then Sozin's Comet parts 1-4. Darkrai help me, I hate the Ember Island Players episode. Although I have to say, the **_**parody **_**of the show was probably better than the live action movie. I give them credits on the special effects department, though.**

**Sorry about the long A/N!**

**~Zorua Illusion**


	27. The Ember Island Players

**A/N: So it's time for my least favorite episode… the Ember Island Players. *Bangs head against wall* Seriously, I wrote **_**three other stories**_** and I gave my sister 48 reviews before **_**attempting**_** to write this damn thing. I hate this episode **_**that much.**_** *Continues to bang head against wall***

**Disclaimer: All I've got is Zarla and Adam. Everything else belongs to their respective owners.**

Zarla's POV

I was getting antsy. Tomorrow I would finally be able to train again!

We had been hiding out in Ozai's beach house somewhere in the Fire Nation. I didn't really pay attention to where, as it was like telling Zuko we're going to Australia. We didn't know the names of the islands or even most cities, so we just trusted the Gaang to go where they needed to. Aang was practicing firebending with Zuko, while Sokka and Suki were out gathering supplies from the nearby town while everyone else relaxed back at the house.

"Doesn't it seem kinda weird that we're hiding from the Firelord in his own house?" Katara questioned no one in particular. All of us that had stayed at home were watching the firebending lesson, which had just ended. Toph had fallen asleep about halfway through it.

"Well, it's one place he'd never think to look, that's for sure."

"Is that an insult?" Zuko questioned me.

"To your father, an indirect one."

"He doesn't seem like the brightest of people," Adam added, taking my arm into his hand to check my burn. He had checked the one on my back earlier, and happily (or as happily as you can be while looking at something like that) noted that it was almost completely healed. The scars would be more red than pink for awhile, then more pink, then almost invisible. Zuko had asked him about his own scar, to which Adam just shook his head.

"From what I've learned, it was a point-blank range shot straight at you, blazing hot. Azula's kick was a clumsy self-defense move (to which Zuko interject "never thought I'd hear my sister's name and "clumsy" in the same sentence) and was quickly healed. Yours may have been, but it wasn't by our medicine. I could help it fade a bit, though, so that way it wasn't as noticeable."

Zuko had passed on the offer, thanking him for his help.

Zuko grimaced but didn't take it farther in the present.

Just then, Sokka came running in, Suki hot on his heels. "You're not going to believe this. There's a play about us."

"We found out we're a fictional story in another universe. Why would we be surprised having a play here where we're real?" Toph asked.

Sokka blinked, but Suki forged on. "We were in town and we found this poster."

Sokka unrolled the scroll he had been carrying.

"Este va a es bueno," I said sarcastically. Seriously, the cover had so many things wrong with it! Aang looked like a girl (I get the art style, but really?), Sokka and Katara were whiter than their tan color, and Zuko's scar was on the wrong side!

Adam took one glance at the poster and whispered "Si" into my ear. **(A/N: that's supposed to say "yes", but I can't get the accent mark over the "I". Just pretend it's there, okay? Thanks!)**

"Think we'll be in it?" he asked.

"No."

We turn back to the conversation, tuning in just in time to hear Sokka telling Katara "C'mon, a day at the theatre? This is the kind of wacky, time-wasting nonsense I've been missing!" with an extremely large, extremely corny grin.

Everyone sighed, facepalmed, rolled their eyes, or some combination thereof, but we all agreed to go in the end.

Adam toyed with the idea of not letting me go, but agreed that since I wasn't really doing anything strenuous and no one knew about the burns that I could go. (Well, it might have taken me glaring at him, but the point still stands.)

So we all killed a few hours and then went to the theatre. I had a small headache before hand, but it went away pretty quickly, along with the feeling of sorrow that came with it. I remember Doc inspecting my brain in the TARDIS, trying to find out what caused the headaches to appear, but I forget if he found anything or not. My brain still suppressed the memories from coming in all at once, and would usually come in dreams or quick flashbacks.

We went to the theatre where the play was showing.

Let's make a long story short: We did not have anything _good_ to say about the play, other than that the one special effects man did a good job for being the only guy to do the special effects.

The first thing any of us said was a complaint, and it was from Toph about how she couldn't see in the nosebleed section.

"Don't worry, I'll tell your feet what's happening," Katara remarked to her, and that was that.

Now, I'm going to skip over the entire play, mainly because it Sucked, note the capital "s". Seriously. (Later, I would find out that this was invented as a parody of the show, which relieved all of the Gaang.) As it was, Adam and I weren't in there, as apparently we weren't very important to the Fire Nation.

Something… interesting (for lack of a better term) did happen during the play. During the Invasion part, after Actress Katara claimed to like Actress Aang (I explained the theatre process to Aang, he wasn't as offended afterwards) like a brother, Aang left. Adam had gotten up shortly afterwards.

**ADAM'S POV**

(This takes place after Adam leaves.)

"Hey, you alright?" I asked Aang out on the balcony of the theatre.

"No."

"Well, good, hate to have to call you out on lying."

"I just really, really hate this play."

I crossed my arms. "You're not the only one. And are you sure it's not just one _part_ of the play you hate, as opposed to the entire thing?"

Aang nodded.

"Well, think of it this way: it's a parody."

"A what?"

"Parody. It's making fun of it. It's the total opposite. It's not meant to be accurate- although it is based off a plotline- it's meant to be _funny_."

"You're one to talk, you don't have a character that makes fun of you."

"Exactly."

"What?"

I sighed, putting my head in my hand. "Aang, how long have we been traveling with you?"

"Err… about… a month and a half or so?"

"Long enough for the Fire Nation to notice us, right? It's just as derogatory for us to _not_ have a character as it is for you to have one that's female, and even that has an explanation to it," I told him.

"This play is horrid." Aang threw his hands up into the air. I saw Katara out of the corner of my eye, talking with Zarla, who apparently finished up a conversation and left. (Later, I found out it was the equivalent of Aang and mine's conversation.)

"You said it. I'm going to go back inside." I waved good bye and followed Zarla, who was hiding nearby, but would be able to get back to her seat before being noticed by Aang or Katara if they left.

"Sh." As if she needed to tell me.

I'm not going to give away Katara's and Aang's conversation. I will, however, say this much:

Katara and Aang had an argument, Aang kissed Katara at an inappropriate time, and Katara backed off, which is when Zarla and I took our seats.

I looked at Katara and nodded to Zarla, who took Katara outside to talk. Aang came back in about five minutes later, followed by Zarla and Katara five minutes after him, and we all watched the finale, which basically crushed Aang's entire moral. Brilliant, and do note the sarcasm.

We all left the play, saying complaints on the way back to the beach house.

Sokka's was the only semi-decent comment. "Well, at least the effects were decent."

**ZARLA'S POV**

(Zarla and Katara's Second Conversation Time Frame)

Actor Sokka started telling jokes that were actually funny (or punny) and real Sokka started flipping out. I remembered that Sokka had told Actor Sokka some jokes, so that explained that.

Katara had gone outside and I followed, not really all that interested in the play. We talk for a few minutes (basically agreeing the play was horrible and should be listed as a parody) and she started walking towards Aang, who Adam was walking away from. I hid behind a pillar, following instinct, and Adam joined.

"Sh," I told him. I don't think he realized he rolled his eyes at me.

We watched Aang be an idiot and angst before we had to rush back to our seats. Katara came in and Adam nodded to me about two minutes later, telling me to help her, so I took her outside.

"Okay, spill," I told her.

"It's just that… I'm so confused!"

"About what?"

"About these… feelings!"

"Katara, what feelings?"

"I just get this weird feeling in my chest whenever I see him but I usually get uncertainty and sorrow along with it and I just-"

"Katara. Calm down. I assume the he is Aang?"

Katara took a few breaths. Luckily, the hallway we were in was empty. She nodded.

"Okay, let's see… first off, that feeling? It's probably love."

Katara choked on her spit.

"Think about it."

She did for about three minutes before her eyes widened in realization.

"Yep. The reason why you're feeling uncertainty? Probably because you feel that everyone you love has left you at one point or another, and I'm not going to describe those in detail."

Katara nodded her thanks, worrying at her hair, as she was prone to when, well, worried.

"And the sorrow? Aang's the Avatar, Katara, you're fully aware he can die at any time and you're afraid of a rebroken heart. But, let me ask you this." I held up a hand, stalling any comments or questions she was going to make.

"Would you rather have a few moments of happiness with sorrow to follow, or live and die with regrets that could not be fixed?"

Katara looked down, not sure of what to say.

"It's a difficult question, and not one that can be answered quickly or with help. But Katara, let me tell you something."

Katara looked me in the eyes.

"Did Adam tell you the story of Doc and Rose?"

Katara shook her head, replying "Sokka told me after Adam told him."

"Doc will _always_ regret losing Rose. No matter how long he lives. Always. And for the longest of times, I wanted to ask him the same question. So when I did, this was the response I got: _happiness and sorrow. I wish I had known that sooner…_ You can't let fear rule you, Katara, else you'll be consumed by it. I know. I was afraid to get close to people for awhile. But Adam was always there, he never pushed me unless I really needed it. Aang is confused to, you know. He's loved you for a long time, I'm sure of it. But you do hold a valid point- wait until after the war."

Katara looked down, processing what I had told her. I grabbed her shoulders.

"C'mon, let's go see the rest of this atrocious play. Just for meirdas and giggles."

I led the way back into the play, which was a mistake. The ending? Everyone died, except the Fire Nation.

Sokka was the only one to say something good about the play: "At least the effects were decent."

We all couldn't help but agree, feeling sorry for the one special effects man, who did a good one man show.

Tomorrow was another day.

Whether it was a good day or not, well, that's up for debate.

**A/N: I hate this chapter. So much, but there's not a snowball's chance outside on the equator that I'm rewriting it. Why? I mentioned it before: I really bleeping hate the Ember Island Players. You can all thank TechnoGirl317 for getting my *bleep* moving. So, anyway,**

**THANK THE STARS I'M DONE WITH THIS MEIRDA!**

**Ugh… just… ugh. I'm not even going to bother. Sorry if you hate this chapter, and sorry for the long delay!**

**~Zorua Illusion**


	28. Plans and Revelations

**A/N: Holy ice and snow. I just realized… this story is ending soon. We have a grand total of… four more episodes, plus an epilogue. Jeez. This whole story just started out when I was in eighth grade, with me just having these ideas and wanting to put them in and something much, much larger was created. Just… holy icicles.**

**Also, shout-out to TechnoGirl317 for getting my writing ass moving (you would not believe how difficult it was for her) and my sister, Irishlovergirl. If you're into ****House of Anubis, Teen Titans, Harry Potter, Young Justice, How to Rock, Rise of the Guardians, or How to Train Your Dragon, check her out!**

**Disclaimer: I own Zarla and Adam; everything else belongs to the appropriate owners. This story is not meant as copyright infringement; please support the official release(s).**

**Zarla's POV**

"Why don't we ask Zuko?"

It was that one question, just five words, which started this entire fiasco. Well, it had started long before Adam and I came, but whatever. Right now, the important thing is the entire Gaang is staring at me as if I'm insane, and also looking like their hands were in the cookie jar when mom came into the kitchen after saying they weren't allowed to have any.

I rolled my eyes, frowning at them. "You know I'm an insomniac, right? And you guys aren't exactly quiet. It's not that hard to figure out what you're doing."

"It's just… I don't think I'm ready. I need to train more in Firebending."

"And frankly, your Earthbending could use a bit of work, too," Toph added to Aang's confession.

I sat down nearby. It was everyone but Adam and Zuko, as they were still asleep.

"I'm aware of that Aang. However, the Fire Nation doesn't plan about you being ready or not. And even then, Aang, you've been told three thousand times that you have to defeat Ozai _before the comet comes_, not after. I think the spirits know what they're talking about."

Aang put his head in his hands, and Katara sent me a look.

"Would you let me finish? Geez. As I was saying, _you_ might not feel you're ready, but _I_ do. But we have to use our heads, and mine has always told me to use what's available. Now, you might not like to admit it, but Zuko was on his father's good side for a bit. It's very possible that he has information that can help us plan," I pointed out.

"She's right," Suki spoke, "as much as we hate to admit it, Zuko being on the inside- at least, formerly- is a good thing right now."

"For how can you defeat something you can't understand?" Adam's voice shocked everyone else.

I was surprised he didn't come sooner.

"Gee, what took you so long?"

"What, did you miss me?" he teased, sitting next to me.

"You wish." I shoved his shoulder playfully.

"What do you mean?" Toph asked.

"I mean, how can you plan without knowing your enemies plans? I mean, yeah, it's possible, but it makes everything hard and rushed, and it battle, that's usually not a good thing," Adam explained.

So the group agreed to ask Zuko tomorrow.

Darkrai, I almost wish we didn't know what was going to come about.

"I went to a war meeting… I felt that he had finally, truly accepted me as his son. I went in there… and they planned to burn the entire Earth Kingdom so that way it could 'rise from the ashes', much like a phoenix."

"Exactly so… the Phoenix King…" the same feeling I had back at the invasion (was that really only a week or two ago?) came, lodging itself inside my head.

Zuko looked at me, startled. "That's what he planned on calling himself."

Adam and I looked at each other with matching expressions. _What's going on?_

I shrugged, waving it off. "Whatever, there are more important things right now; I'll deal with it later. Anyway, he was planning to do this with the comet, right?"

Zuko nodded, even though it was a rhetorical question.

"So we have to attack him before then."

Aang's face fell.

"So we'll train!" Sokka pronounced. Aang left soon after, Katara giving him a look.

I elbowed her in the side, but as soon as she got up, Sokka questioned her.

"Where are you going?"

"To help the one person you are undeniably insensitive to," I retorted before Katara got the chance.

Everyone blinked at me.

"You forget that Aang has to kill the Firelord."

"No!"

"Well _obviously_ you aren't as bright as you believe you are, Sokka." My words were snarky and cutting and offensive, but right now, I don't care.

"How?" he demanded, trying to be impressive by stepping towards me threatentingly and trying to tower over me. Adam saw this, but before he could do anything, I was standing up on my own, striding towards him, perfectly calm. Too perfect.

"Because, haven't you noticed Aang's vegetarian?"

Confused, Sokka replied "Yes…"

Everyone but Sokka instantly got it, looking down.

"Ever ask why?"

"No."

"Sokka, he's an airbender. They respect the sanctity of life, or something poetic like that. Long story short, they don't kill, ever, not even for food. You're asking him to go against something he's believed in for his entire life and not even feeling the least bit sad because of it."

"I lost my mother to him!"

"And he's lost his entire _people_! And yet, he's still not changing!" I shouted. I knew I needed to get away before I said something I regretted truly.

"Speak and know, Sokka. I'm going to leave before I say something I truly regret."

I left without waiting for a reply. I heard footsteps soon after, heading towards Aang's room. It was probably Katara.

**ADAM'S POV (A/N: Thought last chapter would be the only chapter with this. Oh well.)**

"What was all that about?" Sokka inquired after Zarla and his sister left.

"Well, you are." I leaned back, closing my eyes. I was tired, and I knew I would have to go check on Zarla, because not all of her rant was just for Aang.

Sokka looked down. "Yeah… I was, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, but don't sweat it. Both of them get why you have your head submerged. But still, apologizing to Aang for being insensitive would be a great idea, but wait until Katara comes back, alright?" I got up, preparing to leave as well.

"Where are you going?" Sokka asked me as I left.

"You aren't my keeper!" Was the slightly shouted response from the hallway.

I walked forward and knocked on Zarla's door, the third one to the left. My room was right next to hers.

"Unlocked," was the response.

I opened the door and shut it behind me. Zarla was on the windowsill bench. I sat across from her.

"Yue must be upset," Zarla commented, gesturing at the clouds that covered the moon.

"Probably because you and Sokka are," I replied just as softly.

Silence reigned, only to be shattered when Zarla asked "Where did I go wrong?"

I pulled her into a hug, still letting her look at the moon. Her medium brown hair covered my torso when she leaned into me. I rested my head on top of hers.

"You didn't," I whispered, "you didn't."

Zarla just sighed softly. A few minutes later, her breathing slowed and her heartbeat slightly fell, indicating she was asleep. I tucked her into her bed and dragged a pillow and blanket from my room into hers and slept in the windowsill.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do for someone is let them know that they are not alone.

**A/N: So… yeah, basically from here on out, it's Alternate Universe. Ta-da! No idea where this is going to head, but here we go!**

**Once again, shout out to Technogirl317 for getting me moving, else we'd probably still be on EIP, and to Irishlovergirl for, as I put it, "being there", or in her words, "listening but not really, more like half-listening to your rants".**


	29. Boston Marathon, Iraq, Venezuela

"I apologize for this not being an actual chapter, but don't worry! Zorua Illusion is already working on the next chapter. It's slow going, though, as she does have quite a bit of schoolwork and a minor case of writer's block. Don't worry, she'll get over it! Oh, by the way, this is Zarla speaking."

"Now it's Adam. The reason Zorua Illusion is posting this chapter is because of the Boston Marathon Bombing, the Iraq Bombings, and the Venezuela issues happening right now."

"For those who haven't heard," Poppy continued, "the Boston Marathon took place yesterday, with people crossing the finish line only for a bomb to go off. As far as we are aware, there are two dead and over one hundred injured. Please keep Boston in your thoughts or prayers, and let's hope those who are affected may recover. There were reports of several more devices, but they were disarmed, and the fire at the JFK Library was not related, and was simply a mechanical fire with extremely bad timing."

"Furthermore," Jack continued, wrapping and arm around his sister, "Zorua Illusion knows very, very little about the Iraq bombings, other than that they took place the same day as the Boston Marathon. Fifty-five people are dead from this. Let's remember them as well, and hope that those affected from that may recover as well."

"As for Venezuela, we're not quite sure as to what is going on, as we are not in the country and Zorua's not getting much more than three posts… from what she can deduct, the government rigged an election and the people were peacefully protesting when the military started shooting and gassing them. Venezuela is reportedly heading towards dictatorship. _However,_ the Internet is not always a place for truth. We don't know exactly _what_ the situation is in Venezuela is, and Zorua would appreciate any information given, whether through a PM, a review, whatever floats your boat," Zarla informed.

"Zorua asks this one thing of you in regards to the bombings," Adam stated with a deathly serious tone, "please do _not_ immortalize the person or people who set the bomb, for that is exactly what they want. Do not name them, please. She asks you to refer to them as 'the bomber(s)' or something else. Please do not give them the attention they are seeking. She will not, however, take any action should you choose to do so. This is a request, not a demand. Also, this next one is a little less of a request and more a reminder of common courtesy… and sense. Do _not_ make jokes about these unfortunate events. Seriously, that's just cruel."

"And finally, we do apologize for the depressing tone of this message," I say, "Hi, I'm the author, Zorua Illusion. Anyway, I just like to keep my readers informed as to what the heck is going on in my life right now, and these events are very, very large where I am right now. Well, mostly the Boston Marathon, but the other two need attention as well. Yes, any more information you have on these events is welcome. Also, I apologize for this not being an actual chapter of FiLiAL. These events upset me so much yesterday, I really couldn't do much of anything, not schoolwork, not writing. I just painted a few things, which is what I do when I get too stressed. But back to the main point here. I hate being the bearer of bad news, but someone has to do it, and I can take a few hits. But! As Mr. Rogers said, look for the helpers. You'll always find more people helping than harming, even if it takes awhile to see past the casualty numbers. Thank you for sticking with us though this, and keep these locations in your thoughts and prayers, if you do them. Any questions or information, just drop in that review box down there or send me a PM."

"Thanks," Zarla and Adam said at the same time.

"And may the Moon help you," Jack and Poppy continued.

"And may the stars protect you, even when all seems lost," I finished.


	30. Finding Aang

**A/N: Seriously. The hell am I writing? I don't even know any more.**

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. Well, I own Zarla and Adam, but that's it.**

**ALSO: Thanks to Zip, Technogirl317, Irishlovergirl, and everyone who reviewed and/or favorite this story! You wouldn't believe how cluttered my inboxes got.**

**Zarla's POV**

"Wait, wait, what do you mean, Aang's missing?" Toph asked.

"Just that," Katara replied, frowning.

This is what I woke up to- everyone else in the house was searching for Aang and Momo, who had apparently disappeared after Katara visited him but before she woke up and checked on him again. Katara had reported burned out candles and he left his staff here. Zuko, Sokka, and Suki were down at the beach looking for him, and everyone else had elected to let me sleep and searched the house.

I seriously fracking wish they had woke me up. Nightmares had plagued me last night. All I can remember is fire, burning, and a voice shouting "Mama!" and "Doc!" which might've been me. I don't know, I just know I feel like death warmed over right now, and the sense of panic isn't helping.

Anyway, main point, the rest of the Gaang minus Aang and Momo returned with heavy expressions on their faces.

"What did you find?" Katara inquired worriedly.

"Well," Sokka began.

"Footprints," Suki continued.

"There wasn't any sign of a struggle, and it kind of looks like he was half asleep when making them, because they were about ¼ of an inch into the ground, compared to his regular 1/6," Zuko elaborated further.

"I've heard of sleep walking, but sleep swimming? That's a new one," I commented.

"He probably went on a Spirit World journey," Sokka hypothesized.

"Key word in that being 'Spirit', Sokka. His body would still be here," I replied, starting to pace.

"Has anyone noticed Momo's missing as well?" Toph mentioned.

"I knew it was only a matter of time! Appa ate Momo!" Sokka ran to climb into Appa's mouth, but I pulled him back.

"In case you haven't noticed, Appa's vegetarian. He wouldn't eat Momo, he's probably with Aang," I snarked, still pacing.

"What's got your pants in a twist?" Sokka asked.

"Well, minus the fact that two of our friends are MIA, they are MIA at an opportune time, there's a fracking _war_ going on, and the fact that I don't have a headache is either bloody miraculous or downright disastrous!" I exclaimed, stopping my pacing to throw my hands up in exasperation.  
>Adam came up a pulled me into a hug.<p>

"Sorry," I muttered, "but that doesn't make it any less nerve wracking."

"Okay, so, question is, where would Aang be?" Adam asked the group at large.

"Not on the island, he would've been back by now," I said, frowning. I pulled out of the hug and continued pacing. "Appa, any ideas?"

A roar was my reply, but Appa didn't do anything, which I guess was a "no".

"And beside the point, we can't stand here all day looking for him." I turned towards Zuko.

"Why are you looking at me?" he asked defensively.

I spoke up before anyone else could, "Oh, I don't know, maybe because you spent the greater part of these ten months chasing after him?"

"Zarla, snark warning," Adam told me.

"Right, sorry," I apologized to Zuko.

"There's one person," he started.

"What's their name?"

"Just get on Appa," he replied, climbing onto the bison's head.

We all climbed into the saddle, and off towards the Earth Kingdom.

"Zuko, I don't want to tell you how to do your job but why are we heading towards the Earth Kingdom? There's no way Aang's there," Sokka informed Zuko.

"Just trust me," was the reply.

Most of the ride was quiet. Adam and I had no comments to make, nor did anyone else. It was driving me crazy.

I tried to play the pippa, but it was just a random mess of chords, so I stopped.

Nothing seemed appropriate in this atmosphere. I never really noticed how dependent this group was on one another- if one was missing, the others had no idea what to do. It was like they were all one person at times.

Zuko eventually landed us at a tavern.

"Okay, Zuko, I get that this is stressful and everything, but why did you bring us to a freaking bar?"

Zuko ignored my comment and opened the door, pointing to a lady with a red tattoo on her arm. She was fighting pretty much every person in the bar with a cup of tea in hand.

"Jun. She's the reason we're here."

"Oh yeah, that weird bounty hunter with the giant mole," Sokka recalled.

"Mole? Her skin is flawless," Suki commented.

"No, no, she rides around on this giant mole creature," Sokka replied.

"A Shirshu," I informed.

"It's the only animal that can track Aang's scent anywhere in the world. It's the one shot we have at finding him," was Zuko's grim addend.

Jun had finished effectively kicking everyone's ass and caught the teacup she had thrown into that air with all the grace and smugness that she had.

"I don't know who this Jun lady is, but I like her!" Toph declared.

I shrugged. I remembered Jun from the episode Bato of the Water Tribe. I still found it funny that Zuko was sent up in a rain cloud.

This was only the beginning, however, of a very long, complex plan.

**A/N: I know, I know, it's basically the same thing. And that's pretty much how it'll go, only the comet will not be present… for now. Basically, Ozai's moved his reign as Phoenix King up just a bit, a day or two, I think, but they'll be moving out earlier.**


	31. Reunion

**A/N: Shout out to Irish Lover Girl, TechnoGirl317, and everyone who reviewed/favorite/followed! We're nearing the end here guys! Only about… holy shields! Four more chapters. Dang.**

**Disclaimer: I own squat. Zarla and Adam are my creations.**

**Zarla's POV**

"Okay, so let me get this straight," I remarked, face in my hand, "the bald twelve year old who kicked Zuko's ass the last time you met him suddenly doesn't exist because… I'm sorry, what's her name again?"

"Nyla," Jun supplied.

"Thank you, because Nyla can't find a scent?"

"Yep. It's a real head scratcher," Jun told me.

"Okay." I threw my hands up into the air before letting them fall. Jun started to mount on Nyla.

"Wait," Zuko slightly commanded, "I know someone else." He hopped up into the saddle to get his bag. Meanwhile, Nyla walked over to Adam and I and started sniffing at our bags before going hyperactive.

"Okay, what does that mean?" Adam asked.

"It means you've got something on you that Nyla can smell."

Adam and I looked at each other.

"You don't think…" He started.

I shrugged. "Worth a shot."

Together, we withdrew two separate items from our bag.

Adam and I each withdrew a key… that was almost glowing.

"Zarla, that's…"

"A TARDIS key." I was astounded. Doc had given one to each of us before we left the TARDIS at the beginning of this insanity.

"A reminder… and a promise," he had told us.

"Nyla's got a scent," Jun declared, "It's Northwest of here."

"Think she can find another?" Zuko held out Iroh's sandal.

"You kept your uncle's smelly sandal?" Sokka asked, holding his nose.

"I think it's sweet," Toph commented.

Nyla sniffed the sandal and started going around in circles, then Jun mounted her and they shot off.

"Hey, wait for us!" We all dashed on top of Appa.

"Which direction are we headed?" Adam questioned.

"Northeast, towards Ba Sing Se," Sokka replied.

"Diablo's Ciudad," I inserted.

Adam frowned.

"At least the Dai Lee are out…" Suki commented.

I scoffed. "No they aren't, as soon as they realized Long Feng was long gone, they switched over to the Fire Nation. They're responsible for bringing down the great wall. The Earth Kingdom fell because of their bloody greed."

"Zarla." Adam's tone was sharp. A warning.

I sighed. "Sorry, I don't focus very well in tense situations."

Sokka looked confused. "Then how'd you defeat that guy?"

"What guy- oh. That." I scowled. "Instinct more than anything. I kicked him in the knee. No one ever expects the knees. Or ears."

"What about the broken arm and nose?"

"You beat a guy up that badly?" Zuko inquired from Appa's head.

"Well what do you expect me to do, lie down and let him rape me?" I snapped, "The broken arm came from when I got up and bent it the wrong way. The broken nose came from when I punched him in the face. I could've cracked his skull, so don't you dare give me that bleeding look."

Zuko was staring at me.

Toph whistled. "Remind me not to piss you off, Rabbit-Kangaroo."

"Eris," Adam said.

"What?"

"Her nickname's Eris."

Toph blinked. "When did that happen?"

Adam and I laughed out loud from the memory.

"Well, apparently, _someone_ doesn't have the patience for chess," Adam managed to choke out through his laughter.

"Well excuse me, but I was five, okay! I didn't even know what the heck I was doing!"

"Care to share?" Katara asked in a deadpan.

"Long story short: I was five, got frustrated with a chess game, which is very similar to Pai Shoa, and knocked over the entire board and pieces. My dad thus nicknamed me Eris because a friend told him a joke like that about chaos gods, and Eris was the Greek goddess of chaos. I liked it at the time before I found out she started the bloodiest war in ancient history because she wasn't invited to a party."

"You have the weirdest stories," Sokka commented.

"You have no idea." Again, unison.

We arrived outside the ruins of Ba Sing Se's wall around sunset. Nyla was scratching at the runis.

"Nyla's getting twitchy so it can't be too far. Your uncle and the person you're looking for should be beyond the wall," Jun informed us.

"Thank you," Adam and I said in unison. Jun just raised her eyebrow before hopping up on Nyla and riding away.

"It's been a long day. Let's set up camp," Zuko told us.

And so we did. All of us fell asleep soon after.

Insomniacs or not, Adam and I forced ourselves to sleep. We'd need it.

We were all woken up by loud crashes of earthbending and the roaring of fire.

Adam and I sprinted to our feet, but a voice called out, "Well, look who's here!" before chuckling and snorting.

We looked up and saw six people, all of which we recognized, including…

"Doc! Donna!"I called, a huge grin nearly splitting my face in two.

"Zarla! Adam!" Doc called, sliding down the ruins, Donna calling "Wait up Time Boy!" behind him. He crushed us both in a hug, followed by Donna.

"By Darkrai, you're alive! I thought the TARDIS couldn't land here!" I laughed, ignoring the stares I felt in my back.

"Well," Doc started, but Donna cut him off. "Oh, just be happy we found them!"

"More like we found you," I commented.

"Oh, whatever." Donna rolled her eyes and pulled me into a hug again.

"Um… gonna introduce us?" Toph snarked.

"Oh! Sorry, you guys. Anyway, Doc, Donna, from left to right that's Zuko, Katara, Sokka, Suki, Toph, and Appa's in the back, you guys, this is the Doctor and Donna."

"Where's the TARDIS?" Adam frowned.

Doc scratched the back of his head. "Well, she's… err, a bit out of commission."

"Then why the hell is my key glowing?" I inquired, showing my key, which, true to my word, was glowing gold.

"Strange… mine isn't," Adam noticed.

Doc glanced at the key before starting to babble in TARDIS tech mode.

Everyone looked confused.

"Doc? Doc. _Doc," _I tried to get his attention, but he continued. I rolled my eyes and let out a shrill whistle, causing everyone to wince but Adam ad Doc, the latter of who just looked at me.

"Babbling again," I explained.

"Oh, right. Anyway, this means that she had enough power to recover, but could only alert one key, since it's not where we belong."

"So you two were the friends he was talking about," Piandao mused.

"Apparently," Adam stated, watching in mild amusement as Doc scrambled back up and started running (presumably towards the TARDIS).

Donna just shook her head. "That Martian."

"He's not from Mars," Adam and I spoke in unison, spooking Bumi, Jeong Jeong, and Pakku.

"You get used to it," Donna informed.

_Vrowp. Vrowp._

"Well, the TARDIS is up and running." I smiled.

"Does that mean you're leaving?" Sokka inquired.

"Probably not unless we absolutely have to. We don't leave until a problem is solved, but we usually don't hang around for the clean up."

"Why not?" Suki asked.

I looked at her flatly. "Time would become so screwed up it would look like a Mobius strip."

"Oh."

"Okay, so, game plans here, what the Hades are we doing?" I asked.

More quick introductions were tossed around, eventually ending with us being told how Bumi retook his city and coming to the White Lotus.

Zuko was then directed to his uncle and Katara comforted him when he believed he couldn't do it.

While Zuko was in the tent, Donna turned to us and explained how they met the White Lotus.

"The TARDIS crashed somewhere between Ba Sing Se and Omashu." She said the names slowly to get them right.

"Diablos Ciudad y La Piedra," I spoke.

"Devil's City and the Stone," Adam translated.

"Anyway, this madman found us- I guess that's a thing, madmen finding madmen- and completely believed Time Boy's story… which was the truth. Has anyone ever taught you subtly?" Donna called to Doc.

"I think they did… but he was so fascinated by something else that he completely ignored them," I laughed as he looked over and waved, clueless. I waved back to him.

"Anyway, we were invited to this group by him and we've been trying to get the Old Girl back on her feet. What about you two?"

So we told her the story of what happened after we jumped out of the TARDIS.

We really didn't have another choice, you see. The memory's still a bit fuzzy, but something had somehow crashed into us in the Time Vortex and threw us off course into the dimensional wall. Doc had no time to rescue the TARDIS from the hands of another universe ad tried to make it as steady as possible.

Two spirits came on board and offered to help, but we would have to help stop the war from two different places.

Adam and I in one. Doc and Donna in another.

We agreed, and Doc took our memories so that way we wouldn't try to find out where he was or worry too much about him and Donna. He also blocked my foreknowledge of the events, as it's dangerous to know too much of the future.

We disguised ourselves and jumped, landing in the place we woke up in.

Anyway, while we were telling our story, with Donna adding in sarcastic barbs here and there, Zuko and Iroh finished talking and joined us on our recap of the adventure up here.

"I feel a little bad for saying this, but I'm glad there's something going on here. The silence was driving me mad!" I finished.

"Quite a tale you have," Iroh opinionated.

"You have no idea," Adam replied.

"Uncle, you're the only person other than the Avatar," Zuko began.

"Aang," I interrupted, getting a glare from the former prince, to which I raised my eyebrow. Please.

Zuko continued. "Other than Aang who can possibly defeat the Father Lord."

"You mean the Firelord," Toph corrected. She was eating some noodles with chopsticks, said objects now being directed towards Zuko.

"That's what I just said," Zuko defended.

Iroh hummed absently.

"We need you to come with us," Zuko concluded.

"No, Zuko. It wouldn't turn out well."

"You beat him and we'll be there to help."

"To accomplish what, exactly? Yes, the war will be over, but we'll have another one on our hands if we don't do this right," Adam injected.

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. A brother over toppling another for power? Although it's what your dad did, he at least did it in secret. Iroh publicly overthrowing Ozai, well, you might as well sign up for another war. The only way for us to end up with the royal flush is for Aang to defeat Ozai," I finished.

"Would you take your rightful place on the throne?" Zuko turned to his uncle.

"No. Someone new must take the throne. An idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor. It has to be you, Prince Zuko."

"Me? But I've made so many mistakes."

"Reason one," I said.

Everyone turned to me.

"Look, mate, we all make mistakes. It's a part of life. Admitting you made a mistake? You're ahead of about half the people of our universe. You have the perspective that many rulers lack- you know what it's like to be on the run, to be a noble, to be entirely broke. Many rulers only see the noble aspects of life. Someone who can understand any background makes for a level head and sound, unbiased judgment. I think you would make a better Fire Lord than your sister."

Iroh nodded.

"I'll try."

"Well," Toph began, "what if Aang doesn't come back?"

"He will," Adam spoke confidently, "always where he needs to be."

Iroh then spoke about his vision and misinterpretation as a boy. He then states what must be done.

"I can handle Azula."

"Not alone," his uncle reminded.

Zuko turned towards Katara. "How'd you like to help me put Azula in her place?"

Katara grinned slightly evil. "It'd be my pleasure."

"Wait, whoa, hold up. The next task is the airships, right?"

Iroh nodded.

"Toph, no offense meant so sorry if you take some, but you're going to send the blind girl who can only _see on earth and metal_ into the _air_."

Iroh looked a bit sheepish.

"Yeah. Toph, why don't you go with Zuko and Katara, and Adam and I will go with Sokka and Suki."

"Oh hell no! We just got you two back!" Donna exclaimed.

"Yes, but if we don't stop this war, there won't be an us to come back!"

"Not happening."

"Do you seriously think _telling_ me to do something is really going to do anything?"

Adam had wisely backed out of the argument, as had everyone else, including Doc, who had just recently rejoined the group.

Donna sighed. "No, but it was worth a shot."

"Thanks for caring, Donna, but…"

"I know, I know, the whole 'loyalty/hero complex' thing that apparently everyone onboard that ship has to have."

Adam and I laughed at the truthfulness of it all.

Then we got ready to go, mounting on an eel hound, a gift from Piandao.

No headache. This was either good…

Or terrifyingly bad.

**A/N: Holy eggshells, you guys, just three more after this. Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

**ALSO: Typing will be seriously slowed as I screwed my wrist up and it was painful to type the last half of this chapter. I promise, I will continue to write this story, but there's only so much I can do, and it may also be blown off because school is kicking my ass, as it always does in the last grading period.**

**Apologies for any character being OOC.**


	32. Airship Raid

**THIS STORY HAS BEEN DISCLAIMED 32 TIMES NOW. If people haven't gotten the message that I own nothing but Zarla and Adam by now, then they never will. So don't sue me, because I already did this, and I really don't need more paperwork to do.**

**I only have one more week of actual lessons, guys. Then it's exam review, then exams, then I'm home free for the summer! That means more updates, and I have an idea for a connected series of oneshots involving Zarla and Adam that really don't have a place in this story. **

**ALSO: Shout to the following people: Technogirl317, Irish Lover Girl, Melody Sparrow (who reviewed a long time ago on chapter 8, sorry for not mentioning you before!), I'mSufferingOfCerealBoredom, theavatarmaniac, amberdaywalker, and everyone else who reviewed that I missed. Thank you to everyone who has favorited/followed me or this story, and to everyone who's taken the time to read it!**

**Also, let's see if I can do this chapter right… **

**Now, without further ado, on with the story!**

**Adam's POV**

Luckily, the eel hound was fast enough to get us to the airstrip before the fleet took off, and granted us enough time to steal some spare uniforms and take our place on the airship.

We kind of just hung around, not doing much, following Toph's advice of "wait for the right time". We found the right time when we reached the edge of the Earth Kingdom.

We all took off our uniforms and set for the control room, where there were about five people controlling the ship. Sokka and Suki charged in and quickly defeated all of them while Zarla and I kept a lookout.

A few of them woke up from time to time, but Suki just threw them overboard with the rest of the crew.

Sokka had gotten them into the bomb bay with the promise of treats for someone's birthday.

With the TARDIS restored (somewhat), Zarla and I could read here. Sokka felt a bit sheepish after Zarla read the logs and found out it was actually someone's birthday.

Sokka told us that if the army did get back and Zuko was made Fire Lord, he would give them the treats he promised and apologize.

Zarla said she'd help.

So, anyway, we now had control of the airship, and luckily, it would work for awhile without help from the engineers and would only need a crew to guide her.

"Fire Lord Ozai, here we come," Sokka's determined voice was quiet, but it rang like a bell.

Zarla, I noticed, was grinning this fierce grin I had never seen on her. It was predatory, but yet… it seemed fitting, as if she was a nightmare of nightmares. And she could be.

I liked it.

So basically, Sokka flew the airship for awhile as we tried to figure out how we could take out the fleet but with our only weapon being the balloon itself.

The answer came when we started to lag behind.

"We're not going to catch up in time!" Suki exclaimed.

"No." Sokka's despair was apparent in his voice.

Zarla's hand tightened on the railing. I leaned forward as if it would speed us up.

Then, three blocks of earth came and destroyed part of one of Ozai's engines. A burst of flame shot out the rest, making the airship tip to the left, granting Ozai a clear view of…

"Aang! He's back!" Hope was restored.

Ozai leapt off his perch, where he was viewing the Earth Kingdom, off to fight Aang.

From what Zuko had said, they were planning to go to the captured Ba Sing Se to wait five days for burning the Earth Kingdom to the ground and then rebuilding it as a larger Fire Nation with the help of Sozin's Comet.

Too bad he counted us out of the loop… and never thought about Doc and Donna, who were helping to retake Ba Sing Se.

I know it sounds weird- doesn't the Doctor normally abstain from violence?- but he wouldn't be helping with taking the soldiers down. That's what he told us, at least. We'll get the full story after the battle.

Anyway, Sokka had come up with a plan. "Airship slice!"

Zarla's eyes lit up with recognition and started to dash around and help Sokka with the controls.

"Go! Get to the top!" Zarla called, "We'll meet up!"

"Aye, aye, Captain Zar and Boomerang!" I called, grabbing Suki's hand and running to the ladder that would lead us up. Suki got on there before I did. I heard Sokka and Zarla behind us by about ten feet, Sokka extending the same courtesy to Zarla that I had to Suki.

We all got on top of the airship just as it plowed into the next one. Everyone pitched forward, but regained their balance and kept running.

However, the part we were running on cracked, leaving me, Sokka, and Suki on one part and Zarla on the other.

The three of us had to jump onto the next ship. Zarla fell on another.

"I'm alright! Go on, get moving! I'll be fine!" she called.

She disappeared a moment later. A feeling of dread settled in my stomach, but I shook it off.

"C'mon, she's not dead, you guys," I told Sokka and Suki once seeing their faces, "but she will be if she's the only one working on getting this fleet out of the air. Let's do this."

They nodded and off we went to the rudder.

"We need to jam this into the turning position!" Sokka called over the wind.

"Good thing Zarla makes sure we went prepared!" I pulled out a little bit of magnesium alit lit it, tossing it onto the metal as soon as it was turned, melting it into the position.

"Natural fire bending," I joked.

We all leapt off of this airship as soon as a firebender shot a flame at us. Sokka took out his sword to slow his and Suki's decent, and I followed suit with my dagger.

Unfortunately, when we landed, Sokka bent his leg wrong, and he and Suki were on one of the platforms for the firebenders. She was hanging onto Sokka's hand from the U-shaped opening.

"Ack! My leg!"

I raced over and helped Suki up first, so that way Sokka wouldn't drop her.

We were lucky that a firebender didn't appear in those nerve wracking five minutes.

I then had to help Sokka with his leg.

"Sokka, this is going to hurt. A lot. But I have to make sure it's a clean break, and if it is, set it, otherwise, it's only going to get worse."

Sokka nodded, gritting his teeth as I checked the bone.

"Okay, it's a clean break. Now, I'm going to set it. It's going to feel like there's a red hot dagger ripping through you, but only for little bit. I have casting supplies on me, but we're going to have to do this faster than normal. Alright? Suki, can he squeeze your hand? It's going to hurt like the devil."

Suki nodded and allowed Sokka to grip her hand.

I swore I heard the tramp of armored feet getting closer.

"Alright, here we go!" I set the bone and Sokka squeezed and let out a yelp of pain.

I quickly had a splint wrapped around Sokka's leg which would allow the bone to heal right.

Unfortunately, right at that moment, a firebender came up on either side of us and prepared to shoot.

I quickly threw one of the glass test tubes Zarla had given me awhile ago, causing a very small explosion in front of one. Suki leapt over and disabled the other one's capable and subdued him, just as another airship crashed into ours.

"It's Zarla!" Sokka called, spotting her on the ship. We all dropped down onto it, where Zarla strolled up.

"So," she began, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "what'd I miss?"

"Oh, not much, we're just preventing the end of the world, nothing unusual," I replied.

Zarla let the smile take over. "Ah well, all's well that ends well. Aang just went all glowy. Let's go see if he needs a ride back."

"What happened to the crew?"

"Oh… I just persuaded them to get out."

"I'm getting the full story later. Let's get you sitting down, Sokka."

We took Sokka and Suki into what was basically the lounge area of the balloon and left them there while Zarla and I went to pilot the ship.

"So what _did_ you do?" I inquired.

"The biggest 'Come at me bro!' in all of time and space… just a little bit edited," she admitted, a slightly sheepish grin on her face, turning towards me from the wheel.

"You are just…" There weren't any more words for me to use.

"Brave or stupid, take your pick," she laughed. I came up behind her and hugged her.

"I was going to say smart, resourceful, intelligent, beautiful…" I trailed off, noticing her blush.

"Thanks." She let go of the wheel.

A blinding light appeared suddenly, half the sky blue, the other, orange. Slowly, but gaining speed, the orange started to overtake the blue. When there was nothing left, the blue shot around, quickly regaining all its lost area and overtaking the orange's. A column of light appeared, then disappeared.

"Want to bet that that was Aang?" Zarla asked.

"I'm not taking it, but it probably was."

"Yeah. Let's give him a lift."

Zarla steered the airship towards Aang's rock column, with Ozai slumped over a rock and Aang looking at us.

"Why is it, that we turn our backs for five bloody minutes, and all of a sudden, you're back and probably ten times more powerful?" Zarla asked jokingly.

Aang just rubbed his head.

"What'd you do to him?" Sokka asked.

"I took his bending away. He won't be hurting anyone with it anymore." Aang's voice had all the authority he would need when rebuilding his world.

"Well then. Let's go see if our friends were as successful as us." Zarla tied up Ozai, ignoring his insults and biting words until she got tired of his voice, which is when she snapped,

"Shut up you pompous asshat. My own family has called me far worse names."

That shut him up, and Zarla locked him away inside a prison hold contained in the ship.

Sokka then directed us to Ba Sing Se, where the White Lotus had retaken the city, and we regrouped with Doc and Donna, who might've been a little worse for wear mentally but e otherwise fine.

"We helped imprison the soldiers and took down some of their machines with the sonic utensils," Donna explained as we tried to get the TARDIS into the airship. (How we managed it, I don't know, but we did.)

Aang was introduced to Doc and Donna, and the Grand Lotuses gave instructions to their peers and joined us on the last leg of our journey.

Next stop: Fire Nation Capital.

**A/N: TA-DA!**

**Next chapter's probably going to be the final one.**


	33. Finale

**What's this? Three updates in a relatively short amount of time?**

**Let's get rolling!**

**Shout out to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, followed, or read the story or any of my others! You guys rock!**

**THIS STORY HAS BEEN DISCLAIMED!**

**Zarla's POV**

I landed the ship nearby the capital. Zuko, Katara, and Toph greeted us.

"'Sup guys?" I grinned.

"You're alive!" Katara shouted, hugging each and every one of us.

Aang winced a little after she hugged him, making her frown.

"What's wrong, Aang?"

"Aang," Adam's sharp voice came from behind the aforementioned airbender, "why is your back covered in blood?"

Aang's face paled. "I- I don't know." He put a hand to his head. He didn't look well all of a sudden.

Katara's faced drained of color as well, once she looked at his scar.

"I don't have any water…" she admitted.

"Get him into the TARDIS," Doc instructed, already opening the doors.

Katara guided him in, all of us following, including Toph.

"It's…" Sokka began.

"Bigger on the inside, smaller on the outside, yes, yes, sorry Doc, but he's losing too much blood. Here, the infirmary's this way." Adam led Katara and Aang to the infirmary, with the help of the TARDIS, who rearranged her rooms so that way the infirmary was closer than normal. A sign pointed to it.

"C'mon, you guys, let's get out of the way. There's a lobby here somewhere…" I said, a sign convientently popping into existence with the picture of a couch pointing to a door across the hall. "Ah, here we are. Everyone in."

Everyone was staring about in wonderment except Toph, who just frowned.

"It's not just big… it's…"

"Infinite... and alive. The TARDIS is another dimension… if you want, ask Doc, but I really don't think any of us can understand his rants. Just know that we're safe inside here. I'm going to go get tea for everyone.

I did, bringing back a large pot of jasmine Doc managed to keep.

"Thank you," Iroh said gratefully. Everyone was drinking tea, asking questions like "What's this?", "Interesting, why make something like that?", etc.

Eventually, Adam came out. "Katara's taking care of him now. Doc's in the console room, making sure that the Old Gal hasn't taken too many punches."

"Old Gal?" Toph and Suki asked.

"The TARDIS is alive. She's a very special ship, aren't you gal?" I asked.

In response, the lights dimmed and then brightened, scaring the others.

"Relax, you guys, it's how she communicates."

We sat around, eventually with Katara nabbing two cups of tea for her and Aang and everyone coming out.

"So that's where you guys live?"

"Pretty much." Another unison response.

We all walked in silence, transferring Ozai to prison and preparing for Zuko's coronation, where we were told we'd all be presented with something.

The Grand Lotuses went back to Ba Sing Se with the airship, and Hakoda and the group that left with him arrived the day before Zuko's coronation, a day before Sozin's Comet.

The days passed with Adam and I helping in the TARDIS and helping with preparing Zuko's coronation.

TIME SKIP

Zuko was crowned, and after he honored Aang and gave a speech, he called the rest of us forward.

We were all dressed in our finest clothes- Katara was wearing a blue silk kimono with wave accents and a white sash, Aang was dressed in airbending robes that were inside the Fire Nation Archives, Toph was dressed in her Blind Bandit gear (as normal), Suki in full Kyoshi warrior getup, Sokka in his warrior's outfit, Adam was in black slacks and a blue polo shirt, and I was in a short-sleeved, knee-length, emerald green dress with shorts underneath, courtesy of the TARDIS wardrobe. I wore a TARDIS blue charm necklace around my neck, the key hidden inside the charm. Adam's key was inside his pants pocket.

"But the Avatar Aang was not alone in his journey! He had many bright and brilliant friends to help him, and I would enjoy my first task a Fire Lord to be honoring these heroes! First, the Kyoshi Warriors, who trained Master Sokka in their art, and also defeated me and my men when we attacked their village! I present their leader, Suki," she stepped forward, "who showed admirable courage in taking down the airship fleet, with the Warrior's Cross! It is awarded to the bravest of warriors in the Fire Nation, and she and her group truly deserve this. I present to you, Warrior Suki!"

Cheers rang out across the field. Suki stepped back with the golden cross, which had and Earth Kingdom symbol and Fire Nation symbol entwined.

"Next, these two have been with the Avatar from the very beginning, and I have a feeling they'll be with him to the bitter end. Step forward, Master Sokka and Master Katara!"

They did.

"These two have helped Avatar Aang from the beginning, teaching him the ways of a hundred years later, and have stayed with him, taught him all they knew, and gave their companionship and support where no one else would. I present Master Sokka with the Dragon Award, originally given to the people who had slayed a dragon, but shall now be bestowed upon people with great courage and leadership. I give to Master Katara the Sun Medallion, a reward given to the best firebenders, but will now be given to the best and fiercest warriors. I present to you, the Ice Dragon Sokka, and Moon Warrior Katara!"

More cheers.

"And to Master Toph," she stepped forward, "I present the Komodo Rhino award, for going through with teaching the Avatar earthbending, even at a dear cost to herself. She has shown the stubbornness and strength of a komodo rhino for doing what she believed was right, even against the wishes of others. She also helped defeat the Fire Princess, and thus, I present to you, The Blind Bandit!"

Again, cheers extended across the field of people.

"And finally, to our two friends who have recently joined us, I would like for you to meet Master Adam and Lady Zarla!"

We stepped forward.

"These two people are from a faraway place, and we not required to help us win the war, but they brought with them their great wisdom, without which some of us might not be here today. Many of the people part of the Black Sun invasion may remember these two- how fiercely Lady Zarla fought to protect her friends, and how Master Adam healed you with just a few gestures and what little supplies he had. These to have helped us so much, and without further ado, I would like Lady Zarla to step forward."

I did so, and Zuko gave me a gold circlet, which he placed on my head. .

"Lady Zarla has been through much tragedy in her life, her home being burned down when she was three, and moving to a new and unfamiliar place. She then survived through years of tutelage and escaped becoming a victim of rape, though at a great cost. She has lived, and she has fought, and I do believe she will continue fighting until there is nothing left to fight for. With her bravery in defeating the Fire Princess at the Boiling Rock Prison and helping the Avatar through the final leg of his journey, I present to her the Dragon Award. I give you, the Eris Dragon Zarla!"

I stepped back, and at Zuko's prompting, Adam stepped forward. A gold and crimson circle was placed upon his head.

"Master Adam has also suffered through much, his mother becoming fatally ill and healing very slowly, and with attacks on himself and Zarla for helping her through. He stayed by Zarla's side when no one else would, and showed much courage in the Black Sun Invasion and the Airship raid. He has healed many of us, and I present him with the Phoenix Award, given to our best healers. I give you, Phoenix Adam!"

"And finally, although he is not here, I would like to extend many thanks to our friend, the Doctor, for helping retake Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth Kingdom. I would also like to extend the same amount of thanks to his companion, the admirable Lady Donna, for the same purposes. I present to them the Red Ribbon." A red ribbon was handed to Donna, who was dressed in a crimson kimono with gold swirls. I think Doc choked up a little looking at it. Another was handed for her to pass to Doc.

"But now, Eris Dragon Zarla, Phoenix Adam, Lady Donna and the Doctor must depart, but let us have a celebration in honor of the Great War ending before they leave!" Zuko declared.

More cheering rang through, and the party started, Doc eventually coming in and dancing a bit with Donna, and Adam and I danced a bit to, astounding everyone.

All too soon, it was time for us to say good-byes, but the spirits had one last trick up their sleeves.

A moonbeam told us we could send letters. All we'd have to do is write who they were too and leave them where moonlight could reach them to send them. They'd be sent by morning, unless it was a new moon, then we'd have to wait a night.

E said our tearful good-byes and left, the TARDIS roaring to life as the Gaang watched on.

We knew that we'd all be fine. It was a bittersweet ending to our story in Avatar Land.

Adam and I fell asleep soon afterwards on the jumpseat in the TARDIS. It'd been a long adventure.

**No one's POV**

The Doctor smiled at the two teens sleeping on the jump seat. Both of them had been through hell, he knew, and he was happy to see that the two insomniacs were able to rest.

Just then, Donna came in.

"I've got the-" the Doctor quickly but quietly shushed his ginger companion, gesturing to the two unconscious teens. Normally, Donna would've woken them up, but the Doctor guessed that they had been sleeping even worse than when they first came on the TARDIS. Instead, the two slumbered on, leaning on each other's back so they were in a slouched position. The Doctor thought about moving them to their rooms, but after hearing the tales of their separation, he doubted they wouldn't be apart for more than 24 hours willingly. So he let them stay in the position they were in. The TARDIS must've noticed too, as she was flying rather smoothly.

All was well.

But as we all know, in Doctor Who, when everything's going right, you can almost guarantee that Hell isn't far behind.

**A/N: A/N: 33 chapters. 176 pages. 60,257 words in Times New Roman 12 point font, and this story is finally over. Thank you, to all of you who have read, reviewed, followed, and favorite this story.**

**This won't be the last you see of Zarla and Adam, I guarantee it!**


	34. Author's Note: Newsflash

"Hey ho! Zarla, Adam, Jack, and Poppy from Zorua Illusion's stories here, plus the authoress herself! Anyway, I know a lot of you are bummed out the Adam and mine's story, Falling in Love in Avatar Land, is completed, but that was only the beginning!"

"And technically, not even that," Adam added on, "there's a new story called 'Before the Fall'- basically, it covers some large events that occurred before FiLiAL, such as…"

"How Adam and I met."

"How we met the Doctor."

"And coming up how I gained the loyalty of Frehor Noches, my cat that left after I met Yue the Moon Spirit. It's brushed upon briefly in Before the Fall's second chapter, but this would have it from my POV and in more descriptive tones."

"It's in the Doctor Who archives, which is probably why you guys haven't seen it, if you're interested. Just click on Zorua Illusion's profile and scroll down to Before the Fall."

"Furthermore, any questions about mine and Adam's life while traveling with the Doctor and Donna or beforehand? Send Zorua a request, she'll happily attempt to write something to it, though we can't give any guarantees that she will. There are some things Adam and I can't do, you know. And sometimes, you might just get a PM with an explanation as it would lead to spoilers from another story."

"Also, for those of you following this story and getting updates on when it does get updated, _**SPOILERS. SPOILERS. SPOILERS**_. If you want to be surprised, skip over this text until you see _**END OF SPOILERS.**_ Got it? Good, cause here we go:

I'm writing a sequel to FiLiAL.

The idea's been in my head since… oh, chapter 10? Yeah, I've been planning it for a long time. So far, I've only got a few snippets and two full blown chapters, but I actually have more of a plan this time! I'll post it after I post Frehor Noches' chapter (because he needs some more love because he's actually a pretty badass cat).

Anyway, yeah. It'll be Zarla-centric (as if the last one wasn't), and a lot of things that don't make sense will be explained.

It'll be entitled 'Zarla's Story', simply because you'll know what you're getting into," I announced.

"More spoilers from Poppy and I! There will be quite a few characters you might remember, some you've never met before, and some you hate! I'm in there, and I'm pretty sure Poppy will be put in eventually," Jack Frost called from where he was playing hopscotch with Poppy.

"Oh, ideas. Thanks Jack. Oh yeah. _**END OF SPOILERS. SAFE TO READ FROM THIS POINT ON.**_ Anyway, school's getting out soon (I have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday left of actual days, next week is exams, and then I'm home free until August.) That means more writing getting done, as I have more time! It also means possibly longer waits due to Writer's Block.

Also, one final announcement from me: For those of you who read my Rise of the Guardians Stories, I'm writing another chapter to Necessity. That's all."

"So, thanks for listening! Err… reading!" Poppy called.

"And hope to see you later!" I cried.


	35. AN: SEQUEL UP!

Okay, you guys, sequel up! It's under the name "Zarla's Story" and is currently located inside the Doctor Who archives. It's rated "M" for language and graphic scenes, but nothing sexual. It hasn't quite gotten to that stage yet, but I know I'm going to forget and get reported or something if I don't post it as its eventual rating.

So, anyway, yeah, sequel up, if you're interested, or you can imagine some great happy ending for Zarla and Adam, because I can't stand sad ones.

Once again, it's called "Zarla's Story", and I honestly hope it has you on the edge of your seat (or the equivalent of) the entire ride.

Thank you to all of those who have contributed to this story via reviews, PMs, favorites, and follows. And for those of you who wish to continue the adventure, check out Zarla's Story!

~Zorua Illusion


End file.
